


Geboren Um Zu Leben

by buttcatcher



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Eren is Eren, F/M, Levi is ex military, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, mention of rape, please don't kill me for this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-09-07 00:09:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttcatcher/pseuds/buttcatcher
Summary: When one thinks about the end of the world, different scenarios come to mind, but every idea always seems so abstract. There were hypotheses, of course; nuclear fallout, natural disasters, biochemical warfare. The list was endless and God, was it boring.The one thing Levi hadn’t given any thought to was, of course, the possibility that everyone he knew could develop a taste for human flesh and hunt the living for sport.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so I haven't written anything here in a while, but I got into the writing mood and wrote a whole fic. I split it up into chapters because it's big but it's all typed up already. The title is inspired by the song "Geboren Um Zu Leben" by Unheilig; it's the song I listened to while writing a lot of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlXt8Ho8AuE

When one thinks about the end of the world, different scenarios come to mind, but every idea always seems so abstract. There were hypotheses, of course; nuclear fallout, natural disasters, biochemical warfare. The list was endless and god, was it boring. 

The one thing Levi hadn’t given any thought to was, of course, the possibility that everyone he knew could develop a taste for human flesh and hunt the living for sport. 

The illness came out of nowhere and it hit _fast_. Twenty-four hours was all it took for the virus to spread across the globe like wildfire, or at least that’s what he had heard before power plants shut down and the twenty first century was thrown rapidly into a prehistoric state. There was a special kind of uneasiness that crept into the mind and seeped into tired bones when traversing through previously busy places now reduced to nothing more than ghost towns. Centuries of work and modern technology were no more useful than the governments at this point. 

Levi had lost count of how long it had been. It could have been years, or it could have been weeks. All he knew was that he was exhausted, a bone deep kind of tired where even entertaining the idea of pressing on was enough to make his body feel as though it were being pulled into the ground, the heaviness on his shoulders threatening to grind him to dust. 

The lack of energy and reliable safe space to unwind was what eventually led him to the outskirts of the town he was passing through, one building in particular calling out to him. 

It was a fairly recognizable structure, the building built high and fortified with weathered bricks, evidence of its age. The parking lot adjacent was thankfully mostly clear, one or two Roamers lumbering around without a care in the world as they bumped into long abandoned cars in search of prey. 

Raiding a library for food was not something Levi was proud of resorting to. 

Though it was far from the weirdest thing he had done in the name of survival, meager pieces of wild mushrooms and occasional canned goods hiding in long abandoned cellars weren’t enough anymore, and supermarkets were already either entirely overrun or ransacked already. 

That was what he kept in mind as he staked out the ancient building and made the decision to pick the lock in the back and sneak in that way as opposed to waltzing in through the front door. If there was anyone inside, walking through the front would be an obvious death sentence. Thankfully the old combination lock in the back wasn’t hard to pick; in fact, it broke in Levi’s hands as he quietly set the broken pieces in the grass and crept in. 

The inside of the building was everything one would expect a library to look like. It was quiet, as they tended to be even when teeming with life, but this was a different quiet. 

There was no hum of an air conditioner, no background noises of people clicking pens or turning pages, no clacking of fingers on a keyboard or parents reading aloud to their children. 

No, this was an all-consuming quiet. 

Levi supposed he would never quite get used to the stillness as he crept down dark isles of books in perfectly lined rows until he passed a long since unusable restroom and stumbled across the room he had broken into the library for in the first place. 

The library break room was too silent, too still as the sun's rays danced through the dusty window by the door and illuminated the eerily untouched state on the room. Chairs remained pushed in and cabinets remained closed with no signs of having been raided. 

Levi would know, after all. One too many run ins with other survivors who had traded their humanity for madness taught him well. 

Everything in the room looked safe. There were no unsettling sounds of gnashing teeth around the corner or screams of the unfortunate, no blood in sight and no mangled corpses waiting to trip him up. 

No, to the untrained eye, everything was as it should be, and that was precisely the reason it unnerved Levi to feel his skin crawl in the way it did when he felt he was being watched. 

Instinct was what governed his life even before shit hit the fan. It kept him alive through military training and ensured he and his recon squad lived to see another day. It was what kept him going in this fucking hell hole of a world he’d been thrust into and like fuck he would stop listening to his gut now. 

And at that moment, his gut was telling him something was very, very wrong. 

So, when a previously uninhabited dark corner of the room came a figure barreling into him from behind a decrepit looking bookshelf, instinct kicked in and muscle memory took over. 

The body that slammed into him felt solid against his own as he used his leg to trip the unsuspecting stranger and bring him to the ground in a move he had executed countless times before. His squad was known for it in fact, a takedown technique he had personally taught each member with painstakingly patient guidance. 

After all, he knew all too well that a split-second mistake was all it took to turn the tide of a fight. 

A quick flash of wide emerald eyes and a cut off gasp were the only things he was able to take in as he forced the man’s face to the floor, a solid smack echoing through the room as a hard frame met an equally rough floor. From there it was almost too easy to throw his weight onto the other and restrict movement by pinning his limbs to his sides and sitting astride his back, incapacitating him as easily as breathing. 

Before the man he had thrown to the floor had time to orient himself after what sounded like a nasty smack of a forehead against rough carpeting, Levi had his hunting knife out and resting just at the nape of a tanned neck as his thighs kept the strangers arms pinned to his sides. 

“I don’t give a fuck who you are, I found it first,” The boy beneath him growled, a hint of an accent hanging on the end of his words, something easily missed if Levi hadn’t put his full attention on the boy. 

The snarled declaration did nothing to quell the suspicion in Levi nor did it entice him to move from his spot. If anything, the grip on his knife tightened as the sound of another human’s voice echoed in his ears and rang like a crisp bell in his head. 

How long had it been since he had heard someone’s voice? Had it been weeks? Months? There was no way of telling at this point without giving himself a headache and he didn’t care to waste time trying to puzzle it out. The possibility those things outside heard the scuffle was too great to risk dragging this out anyway. 

“I swear to god if you take it-” the kid below him continued as he started to struggle, his hips and shoulders wriggling and thrashing around so much that Levi almost wanted to knock him out with the hilt of his knife to get him to _settle the fuck down_. God, how did this kid have so much energy when looking starved? 

Aside from the fact the man pinned under him seemed determined to fully transform into a thrashing fish out of water, it didn’t seem like he had anyone else with him. Now that Levi could see where the kid had been hiding, he saw a single ratty backpack and a haphazard pile of books scattered around the little hideout. 

Assurance the boy was traveling alone gave Levi a muted sense of gratitude; he didn’t have the energy to fight off a group. 

“Are you soft in the head?” 

His rough voice had an immediate effect on the boy. Limbs that had been doing their best to thrown him off were suddenly tense and still. A soft wheeze was all the response he got to his question as he dug kneecaps into the brat's ribs as a warning. 

Good. At least he knew when he was beat. 

“I don’t care what you’re going on about, but I'm going to let you up. If you make any sudden moves, you’ll be fodder for those fuckers outside.” 

The threat seemed to rile the pinned man a bit. Whether it was out of fear of being fed to the masses or the indignation of being pinned and unable to do anything about it, Levi didn’t know, nor did he really care. 

Still, he was cautious as he slowly released the man and pushed himself to his feet in a defensive stance, knife in hand just in case as he watched the other scramble to stand up. 

The kid was bigger than he had seemed when pinned under the shorter man. If Levi had to guess, this green-eyed asshole was at least two heads taller than him and barely in his twenties. Not that it mattered much; the kid looked like a stray breeze would send him toppling over, malnourished limbs that Levi could imagine had once been strong were more skin and bone hiding under clothing than anything. 

In other words, if he had to take him down, this man's stature wouldn’t make a difference; it would be the bloody bat he saw a few feet away that had the capability of becoming a problem. 

Wonderful. 

“W-who are you?” The man stammered out in what he probably thought was a hushed tone, ignoring Levi’s question and making the dark-haired man cringe at the volume. 

The mere idea of telling this man his name gave Levi pause. There wasn’t anything about the man that screamed ‘dangerous’ like the other living he had encountered. The people lost to insanity were easy to identify, the crazed look in their eyes and on their faces more telling than anything that could come pouring out of their mouths. 

No, this boy looked completely sane, his body in one piece as well as his mind as far as he could tell. The only thing that Levi was wary of were those eyes. 

Through the grime and dirt of fighting to live each day, vibrant and wild emerald eyes regarded him with such thinly veiled animalistic ferocity that the mere sight gave Levi a mild surprise, as much as he hated to admit it. He was quick to get over it however. Hesitation was dangerous. 

“No one if you keep making that much noise,” Levi hissed. 

As if on cue, a chorus of groans and gnashing teeth echoed from the front entrance, bloodied hands pounding and scraping at the opaque glass keeping them from the flesh of the living hiding inside. 

“_Shit,_” The kid cursed, intense eyes leaving Levi to flick over to the hallway leading to the door the undead were pounding against. 

A sudden hush fell over the two men as they waited for the beings outside to lose interest and wander off, as they tended to do when a living being didn’t come barreling out into their masses. Levi used the silence and stillness surrounding them to study the man mere feet away more intensely. 

To the untrained eye, the kid looked like the spitting image of a young adult who had been thrown into a dumpster. 

Hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in a month was pulled back into a disastrous bun on the back of the man’s head, chunks of greasy chocolate locks falling out and hanging limply in front of his eyes. It looked as though it were just long enough to be able to be tied; not that the length mattered when it seemed likely the kid used his head as a shovel at one point. 

The man’s face was in much the same state as his hair, poorly kept and scraggly facial hair lined the strangers tan jaw and led to the scruffiest excuse for a mustache Levi had ever seen. A tattered and bloody tunic looking shirt stretched a little too tightly over broad shoulders. Equally dirty black jeans clung to long legs, the rips in them not looking like a stylistic choice with how sporadic the tears were. Through the rips Levi could see caramel skin peeking out at him, caked in yet another layer of dirt but still as healthy looking as he figured one could get in a world like this. 

It figured he wasn’t the only one with the idea of raiding a library break room. Whoever this kid was, he had some semblance of brains in him. 

The supermarkets were either already picked bone dry or inhabited and fortified by the kind of people no one wanted to meet, apocalypse or not. Both the dead and the living posed different challenges. Raiding a desolate and out of place looking library break room that was likely infected with a few walkers was more the level of risk he was willing to take. The more he stuck to the edge of town, the less likely he’d run into problems. 

Too many close calls had taught him that high risk wasn’t necessarily met with a high reward. 

“Well, you still can’t have it.” 

And there he went again with the cryptic messages. “Have what?” Levi demanded in a low tone, more interested in figuring out an escape plan in case this kid really was a psychopath and made a move for the bat he probably knocked from the tan man’s hands when he knocked him down than whatever he was rambling about. 

But the man made no move for the bat, instead stubbornly glaring at Levi with those furious eyes as though he had murdered his entire family. 

And in this world, Levi thought, that could indeed have happened. 

“The lunch box,” the man grit out, expressive ocean eyes flicking to the counter where, tucked next to a long since inoperable toaster, was a dented old-fashioned lunchbox with a cartoon monster on it. 

Levi could have laughed at the absurdity if the situation didn’t have the capability to turn sour. 

“I don’t want the fucking lunchbox.” A loud growl from his stomach contradicted his words, begging for whatever contents laid inside, but he was not going to risk a tussle if he could avoid it. He had enough food scraps in his bag to last another day or two anyway. 

This stranger didn’t seem to believe him, but when Levi deliberately didn’t make a move to steal it, the other man held Levi’s gaze and slowly made his way over to the box before hurriedly snatching it off the counter in a jittery movement that reminded Levi of a frightened animal. He almost looked like a nervous child, gaze flickering between Levi and the box he held in his hands. Then, in a split second, he threw the latch keeping it closed and quickly surveyed the contents. 

“No fucking way,” The green eyed stranger breathed, voice disbelieving as he pulled out a container of something dark, a bag of what looked like stale chips falling to the ground with a soft noise as the contents were disrupted. “There’s a _snack pack_ in here!” 

If someone had told Levi he would be debating a fight with a giant man child for a snack pack at the end of the world, he would have scoffed and told them to shut up and get their head out of their ass. 

Unfortunately, he was a long way from the training grounds and the idea of throttling this kid for the sugary horror that was a snack pack was beginning to look like a feasible option. 

Sugar was not something that was easy to come across surprisingly. 

“Keep it down you idiot.” Levi hissed as he took his eyes off the other for long enough to find an exit, preferably one that wasn’t crawling with the dead on the other side. 

“Wow, charming, aren’t you?” 

Levi ignored the dig as he smoothly made his way to the exit, careful to not disturb anything around him on his way as he hiked his backpack full of scraps higher on his shoulders. Leaving this idiot was the best way for him to survive; there was no way someone so loud would make it much longer and he wasn’t about to stick around to become someone’s snack. 

It wasn’t until he felt something light hit his shoulder that he whipped back around, innate reflexes allowing him to catch the item before it hit the ground. Crinkly material made a series of rustling noises as his hand closed around the chip bag that had been in the lunchbox. Levi would be lying if he said his stomach didn’t cry in protest when he set the bag of chips to the side on a nearby table, pointedly not looking at the man who tossed them to him. They could be tampered with for all he knew; it could be a coincidence this kid was in the same place as him, had the same inkling that raiding a library was his only option. Or it could be that the stranger had been camping out here, waiting for some idiot to come wandering into his trap. 

It wouldn’t be the first time Levi had encountered living people with a taste for human flesh. 

“Hey, where are you going?” The boy demanded behind him in an almost concerned tone, as if Levi leaving was somehow the gravest offense he’d witnessed with his own two eyes. Levi didn’t bother gracing him with a response as he adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and crept out the same way he had come in, the broken pieces of the old combination lock still resting tauntingly on the grass where he had left them. 

Blood pounded in Levi’s ears as he strained to hear any sign he was being followed by the man he met in the library, his hands itching to hold his knife as a means of protection against the possibilities that leaving that man alive could bring. Nothing but silence met his ears however, no footsteps of a stupid brat or the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling out to him. 

No, he was alone once again, and it was just as well. 

Levi leaned against the back of the library to gather himself for a moment before heading back out into the woods he had come from, intent on circling around the library from the back to continue his journey. The sound of crunching foliage under his boots and the cries of insects felt safer than the inside of that building, much to his relief. 

However, no matter how far he walked, the waning sun beating down on him through the rustling leaves of the trees keeping him safe from the rays, he couldn't get those haunted emerald eyes out of his head. Levi wasn’t naive enough to think it was fate that had brought him to the only living person he had seen in weeks. Life seemed to like throwing curveballs at him more than it ever had before. 

Even as he set up camp in an abandoned shack in the woods he had stumbled upon an hour ago, he couldn't stop thinking about the boy. Was he going to stay in that library wasting away until he ran out of food, or was he going to make a run for it and fight for his life? 

Levi cursed at himself for caring, telling himself it didn’t matter now. They had both made their choices; he wasn’t about to begin regretting his. 

The sun began to set behind tall trees much too soon, its last rays dancing over the ground as evening began to set in. Levi leaned against the chipped wall of the shack he was hunkering down in for the night with his gaze pinned to the forest that stretched out around him. Any time now, the Screamers would awaken and there was no way in fuck he was going to risk going through the forest when those _things_ were on the hunt. 

He told himself he was catching the last bit of warmth from the sun before he had to huddle inside the disgusting shack with nothing but his backpack as a pillow, but denial was never something he was proficient in. Facing important problems head on was the preferred action of choice. As his uncle once said to him as a child, everyone was a slave to something. Some to lust, some to greed, some to other vices, but denial was not something Levi would ever bow a knee to. 

Honesty to himself was a policy that he wasn’t going to break just because the world went to shit, and if he were being honest with himself, he was waiting for the screams of that kid. Something told him the other was as wild as his eyes. The stranger following him was still a possibility, but with the night creeping in and the previously gentle breeze biting him with the chill of night, Levi gave up and turned his back to the forest with the intention of barricading himself inside and not sparing any more thoughts on the asshole. 

If he had been followed, the kid would be dead before dawn. 

_

Morning light brought with it the sound of birds chirping and gentle nature sounds that always made Levi think for a moment- a peaceful, hopeful moment- that all of this was just a dream and he was going to wake up to a familiar set of ocean blue eyes smiling at him in the low light, linens soft and cool against his skin and a heavy arm thrown around his waist. That a warm and low voice would mumble nothings into his ear as he slowly came back into consciousness in the comfort and safety of the world he built for himself. 

But, like every morning had been for the past few months, his hopes were dashed when sleepless gunpowder eyes took in the same cracks in the wall of the shed he had been staring at until he passed out didn’t magically turn into his soft bed, the sheets crisp and clean in a way he felt he never would get to experience again. 

Fuck, what Levi would do for a shower and somewhere clean to sleep. With evening came sleepless nights, but worse than that, the night brought bugs, something he detested feeling crawl over his skin as the creatures investigated the new addition to their home, attracted to the grime on his skin and the stench of his clothes. One could only stand so many insects crawl over them before wanting to claw themselves out of their own skin. 

Distracted once more, the black-haired man heaved a sigh and closed his eyes for one last moment of savoring the warmth dancing along his skin where light flooded into the shed from the cracks in the wood. 

So, when a figure passed by the side of the shack and disturbed the rays of sun, Levi was instantly thrown back into reality. A cold rush of acceptance tingled down his spine as he watched the figure pass the wall adjacent to him before settling in front of the door, lingering at the barricaded slab of wood for a moment before whoever it was seemed to lose interest and left the area, the sun coming back full force through the cracks Levi had been so comfortable resting against moments prior. 

Count on a Roamer to ruin things. 

Pale and slender fingers were quick to draw out the hunting knife from where it rested in the sheathe on his thigh. Levi gripped it tightly as he slowly removed the broken wheelbarrow he had placed in front of the door to keep it shut during the night, his grip flexing on the handle of the blade as he slowly inched open the rotting wood to reveal what he knew he had seen. 

A Roamer, and a freshly made one at that. Dark crimson trailed down a gaping mouth and onto the plaid shirt of the corpse as it turned its head every which way in search of a meal. A chunk of flesh had been bitten off the man’s left cheek- the bite that turned him, Levi was guessing- and showcased his molars where the inside of his mouth was bared for the world to see through the gaping hole. Dark and stained teeth made gnashing movements that resulted in rapid clicking noises, as though it were trying to speak but all that came out were those chilling sounds as its jaw snapped open and closed. The Roamer wore fresh grime and blood on its arms like a pair of gloves, its movements jerky and uncoordinated as it stumbled around the clearing before laying its bloodshot eyes on Levi. 

No matter how many times Levi had to take them down, the Roamers never failed to force the hairs on the back of his neck and arms to raise when the creature locked eyes on a target. So single minded in their focus they were that nothing would come between them and what they perceived as prey once they were seen. 

“Come on you ugly fuck,” Levi growled as the Roamer gurgled at him and began to amble over, long knotted brown hair swinging with its movements as the corpse finally picked up speed as it neared Levi. One lunge was all it took for Levi to grab it by the arm and pull it forward using its own momentum, sidestepping the slow predator and gracing it with a quick and clean knife to the nape as it fell forward. From there it was easy to let it fall to the ground in a silent heap. 

For all the danger Roamers posed in a group, taking one on by itself wasn’t difficult. It was depressingly easy, actually; one hit to the neck and they were hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. It wasn’t their actual hunting ability that led so many people to fall to their clutches, like the news had originally broadcast. Human nature was the culprit as far as Levi was concerned. People froze in times of terror, their fight or flight crippling them just long enough for a horde to get a hold of them and from there it was all over. 

Nevertheless, it was what happened and what was going to continue happening until these undead fucks either rot in the sun, ran out of food, or ate every last human being left on the planet. 

It was a sobering thought. Levi was sure there were people out there, safe on islands that weren’t affected by the plague and just waiting everything out like it was some power outage instead of fighting for their lives at the end of the world. 

There was no way he was one of the only people left alive. 

It was an unfortunate possibility though; he had the presence of mind to admit that. That kid in the library was the first person he had seen in a long, long time. There should have been more sane people alive out there to run into when he was wandering across the outskirts of Trost. 

Inky black strands fell into Levi’s face as he bowed his head once the corpse in front of his feet didn't give any sign of moving. Fuck, he was so sick of this. “Erwin... what would you do?” he whispered to the ground as though the blood covered grass held all the answers he sought. The bluebells peeking through the weeds didn’t speak to him and he didn’t expect them to, and he certainly didn’t expect was to hear a twig snap under something heavy enough to cause it to break off to his right. 

Like a whip Levi snapped his head to the direction he heard the noise only to find a pair of wide emerald eyes staring back at him from behind a tree. 

“What the fuck.” 

Eren gave a sheepish smile in response to being caught as he brushed a clump of leaves off his shoulder before gingerly stepping out from behind the cover of the tree. Levi sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it leave his lungs in an irritated huff. “Get out of here, brat.” He commanded in a tone that left little room for argument as he wiped the gore off his knife with a little rag he procured from his back pocket. 

Though that’s apparently exactly the opposite of what the green eyed stranger planned to do. “You took that thing down so _fast,_” the kid exclaimed as he readjusted the backpack on his shoulders and gestured to the fallen Roamer on the ground with his bat, “I was gonna get it but right when I saw you I knew you had it covered.” 

The praise sat uncomfortably in Levi’s stomach. If there was one thing he didn’t want to be known for, it was killing others. Though he supposed taking down what was once a human didn’t really count as murder. 

Couldn't kill something that was already dead. 

“I’m not interested in being a babysitter, kid. Go stick your head up someone else’s ass.” Levi sighed as he turned around and gathered his measly belongings from the shed. Silence met him as he closed the door to his temporary cover and began walking away even as Eren bristled at being called a child despite telling him his name. He still didn’t budge from his place a few feet from the shorter man though. In fact, Levi fought the urge to scowl as the kid kept pace with him, ensuring he wouldn’t be left behind. 

“The name’s Eren,” the kid began as thick brows drew together at being called a brat, “And don’t get me wrong,” he said as he stepped into line with Levi, matching pace with him as he swatted away the branches Levi let hit him as they made their way through the woods. “It’s not your stunning personality or sense of compassion keeping me here.” Levi snorted and the kid apparently took that as a sign to continue. “It just makes more sense to travel together. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t slept in a while. Maybe we could take turns keeping watch so the other can sleep? What’s your name?” 

Though the idea was tempting, Levi stopped dead in his tracks and watched Eren stumble a few feet ahead before stopping once the shorter man wasn’t by his side. “You don’t know me,” Hell, he could be a convicted felon for all he knew. “How do you know I won’t just kill you and take everything you have for myself?” 

Eren seemed to ponder his words with a tilt of the head, calculating eyes giving him a quick once over that made Levi’s skin crawl. It felt like years before the kid opened his mouth and spoke, “I trust you. Plus, you’re the only other living person I've seen in a long time.” 

The reminder of their species dwindling numbers didn't do anything but make Levi feel mildly frustrated even as the proclamation of trust cushioned the blow. 

“Then you’ve got to be the dumbest asshole I've ever met.” Levi conceded quietly as he turned on his heel and kept a brisk pace, fully aware that Eren was probably going to follow him even if he refused to let the boy tag along. 

“Is this about the snack pack?” Eren snarked as he fell in line with Levi, ensuring they were only a foot apart in case the black haired man decided to make a run for it and leave him behind. “I found it first and I’m not as dumb as you think I am-” 

“Jesus, you’re loud. Didn't you learn loud noise attracts those things?” Levi cut him off gruffly as pale fingers hiked up the strap of his backpack to keep it from slipping. Silence met his question as Eren pursed his lips in thought, apparently taking the hint that he shouldn’t be speaking as loudly as he was. Maybe he was reflecting on remembering how to live outside of an established safe space; Levi could only guess. He was glad he didn’t have to tell the other man his name, though; arbitrary things like names didn’t do anything in this new world but giving his name voice... it was too much of himself to give.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you hear that?” Eren whispered as he carefully took a step back from the shoddy door of the shed, emerald eyes flicking to Levi as he raised his baseball bat in preparation to strike. 
> 
> Levi didn’t give a verbal answer, instead sharing a stern look with the other man as pale fingers reached down toward the knife sheathed against his thigh. “Something’s inside.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured I'd post this a day early because why not.

Cautious silence surrounded the two men as they traversed the forest, the only sound breaking the almost laughably tranquil moment the snapping of leaves and twigs under their feet. 

Not a word was shared as the day dragged on, the sun slowly but surely baking them beneath its rays when they passed through clearings. A soft breeze was just enough to cool the sweat sticking their shirts to their backs, the gentle wind tousling unwashed hair and rustling the leaves of the trees surrounding them. 

They couldn’t have been walking for more than an hour or two when the sudden shuffling sounds of zippers and fabric rubbing together met Levi’s ears. All it took was one quick glance over to the taller man to see him sling his beaten backpack over to his front and go digging through the inside, caramel colored hands shuffling around the contents before a dirty water bottle was pulled out of the bag. Piercing metal eyes kept a critical eye on Eren as he hurriedly twisted the cap and took a gulp, his Adam's apple bobbing in time with the movement. 

Sweat beaded Eren’s dirty skin, droplets escaping his hairline and carving paths down his filthy face to land without a sound on his shirt. Levi could relate; his shirt stuck to his back like a second skin from the sweat caking him. It was unavoidable but that didn’t make feeling like a rotisserie chicken any more tolerable. Eren seemed to share his sentiment as he wiped a grubby hand over his forehead and grimaced at the moisture on his hand afterwards. 

When those intense eyes moved their focus onto him, Levi quickly turned his gaze forward. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if the brunette decided to start asking dumb questions once he realized Levi’s attention was on him. The less they talked, the better. Speaking so carelessly out in the open like this wasn’t a smart move. Whether it was Roamers or living humans around them waiting in the bushes, it didn’t matter. Both the dead and the living could hear and that was enough of a reason to be silent. 

Eren seemed to understand his unspoken thoughts as he finished drinking and quickly capped the water before putting it back into his backpack, the silence between them resuming as though he hadn’t broken it at all. 

_ 

It wasn’t until what felt like hours since they started that a deep but still boyish voice spoke up quietly from beside Levi. “Hey, it looks like there’s a shed or something up there,” Eren exclaimed in a carefully low voice as he pointed a sturdy finger up the hill they were a few hundred yards away from, the ratty tip of a wooden shed visible behind thin tree tops. 

Levi took a quick look at the sun’s position in the sky and shook his head. “We don’t need to find shelter yet. There’s still a few more hours of daylight left.” 

His words seemed to fall on deaf ears however as Eren was already making a quick pace toward the abandoned structure, his long legs carrying him much faster than Levi wanted to admit. “There could be food in there.” Eren said hopefully, missing the look Levi gave him. 

It was doubtful an abandoned shack would have anything in it that was edible, save for possibly some wild mushrooms or berries growing around it, especially this far into the woods. Levi didn’t doubt it had been some kind of hunting area in the past given how far away it was from any roads, but that in itself posed some problems. If there were hunters holed up in there, he didn’t want to run into them. Guns were deadly in more than one way, now. The bullet itself was devastating but the noise the shot created was just as much a threat as bodily harm. The noise was like a smoke signal that called attention to their location, and Levi had no control over who heard it and decided to come find them. Eren didn’t seem to share his hesitation as the bat wielding man carefully slowed down the closer they got. 

The shack was dilapidated at best, and shitty firewood at the worst. The thing was barely holding together under the nature that had begun to take back its space, wild grass and fungi growing on the roof and walls and moss peeking out from between the spaces in the wood where it had warped under the stress of being bared to the elements. It was a wonder how the long haired brunette had spotted it, honestly. Long and low hanging branches from the surrounding pine trees cast almost the entire forgotten shack in shadow, adding to the destroyed appearance. 

All in all, it looked like a piece of shit, and Levi didn’t want anything to do with it. Anything inside would either be moldy or inedible, if there was anything in there worth salvaging anyway. “It’s not worth the time.” He concluded and turned to move away, but a sudden muffled hiss had him halting in his tracks. 

“Did you hear that?” Eren whispered as he carefully took a step back from the shoddy door of the shed, emerald eyes flicking to Levi as he raised his baseball bat in preparation to strike. 

Levi didn’t give a verbal answer, instead sharing a stern look with the other man as pale fingers reached down toward the knife sheathed against his thigh. “Something’s inside.” 

There were endless possibilities: it could be a Roamer, a survivor, hell, it could even be a snake for all Levi knew. The more plausible possibility was that it was a dog or some kind of animal. Any domesticated creature kept as a pet or for livestock either died trapped in their house with their owners when the world went to shit or managed to get out and became feral. 

Either way, Levi wasn’t about to let this kid open the door and possibly be attacked by whatever it was that hid behind it because of his misplaced curiosity. “Let’s go,” He hissed as he watched on with horror as Eren first pressed his back against the warped wood of the shed wall before slowly reaching for the handle keeping the door shut. 

This fucking kid was going to give him a premature heart attack. 

But before he could demand Eren let go of the handle and insist they book it out of there, the shithead twisted the knob and carefully pushed the door open. The creaks the hinges made echoed in Levi’s ears as he watched Eren spare him a fleeting glance before he threw himself into the doorway with his bat raised, ready to strike whatever came barreling out. 

The hissing reached a new volume, more concentrated now that the door was open, but Levi didn’t see anything come out of the shack. In fact, he was just about to ask what the fuck was going on when he saw Eren’s shocked expression, the arms holding the bat aloft slowly lowering in shock. 

That wasn’t a good sign. Levi cursed under his breath as he pushed himself into the doorway beside Eren with his knife brandished and ready to cut throats before he too lowered his weapon at the sight laid before them. 

Three children strained valiantly against thick chains around their thin necks, two boys and one girl. The groans of the metal links keeping them tethered to the back wall of the shed added to their cries of hunger to create a stomach churning cacophony of horror as they reached frighteningly tiny arms out in front of them toward Levi instead of Eren, clouded eyes glancing between the both of them but only reaching for the shorter man. 

“They’re chained.” Levi observed in a calm voice that suggested he was distancing himself from the whole situation. Had the kids been stuck in here before or after turning, no one could know, and he doubted the gnashing mouths of the three trapped corpses would tell him were he to ask. 

The blood staining their clothes in strange areas gave him enough of an answer. 

The black haired girl looked to be by far the most brutalized of the three. Whole chunks of her scalp were missing where someone had pulled her hair out, a sickening cave to the left side of her head looking like someone had struck her with a bat. Her remaining grimy strands of jet black hair clumped together in a poor imitation of a braid that ran down her back. The front and back of her baby pink dress was stained in red so old it looked brown, though a splash of fresh blood splattered her bony collarbone like some kind of grotesque scarf. That particular injury was probably what ended her nightmare here. 

The two boys beside her weren’t nearly as roughed up, though they were by no means spared from the torture of whoever trapped them in here. They boy with haphazardly chopped auburn locks seemed to put forth more effort into reaching them than the other two, horrifyingly tiny hands making desperate grabbing motions at them as baby teeth clicked and snarled. The blonde boy beside him was more malnourished than the other two children. His growling and attempts to break free were slower and more reserved. Perhaps it was an homage to who they used to be when they were alive, but the girl and little blonde boy drifted as far as their chains let them so they were as close to the brown haired one as they could be, adding to his snarls almost instinctively. 

A beaten and dirty mattress was shoved into the corner of the shed behind the kids, crumpled up clothes that were too large for their frames and balled up tissues tossed haphazardly around it. Slivers of sunlight peeked through the cracks of the roof to illuminate brown stains littering the surface of the mattress. The smell of whatever body fluids resided in that disgusting mattress finally hit Levi’s nose, the sharp scent of human excrement and blood making him crinkle his nose. A smell like a rotting fruit combined with decomposing flesh filled the little space, the stench pungent and sickly sweet smelling. 

“They’re just children...” Eren breathed as tan hands clenched into fists so hard his arms began to shake. Steel gray eyes watched closely as Eren crept forward just near enough to be an arm’s length away from the smallest of the snapping children, a look of horror in those expressive eyes of his at the marks covering those young bodies. One mark in particular around the brown-haired boy’s throat was dark enough to peek just above the rusted edge of the collar, purple imprints mimicking a human hand splayed across that tiny throat. “W-what...” he stuttered. “Who would do something like this?” 

Levi didn’t have an answer to offer. While it was true war and tragedy could bring out the worst in people, shattering their minds and turning them into something more monster than human, sometimes... sometimes it didn't take a tragedy to do that. 

Sometimes people were just born fucked up. 

The whole shed smelled of desperation and the need to break free, and that wasn’t even taking into the account the scratches on the inside of the rotting old wood. In the back of his mind, Levi could picture small fingernails digging against the barrier keeping them locked in this cage as they cried for help before they died and succumbed to the disease. 

It made him sick to his stomach. 

Soft footsteps were added to the cries of the children as Levi turned his back to them and began to make his way out of the shed. Agonized shrieks from the chained Roamers behind him went ignored until a strong hand show out and gripped him tightly by the forearm. Instinct took over as Levi whipped around and pulled his knife only to lower it when he met the ocean colored eyes he had already become so used to seeing. The festering anger in them birthed an irritating burn in his chest as he tore his arm away. His extended only silence seemed to agitate Eren further, the riled young man showing his teeth in a snarl as though that would help him form the words he wanted to say. 

“You’re just going to leave them here?!” Eren spat, disgust plain as day on his face. 

“They’re chained, Eren.” Levi repeated as though he were talking to a child. “They’re not going to hurt anyone.” 

“So that means it’s okay to let them stay like this? What kind of backwards fucking logic is that?!” 

God, he could feel a headache throbbing in his temples in time with the cries of the chained Roamers. Why did this kid not understand when to keep his mouth shut and just follow along? It was genuinely perplexing how he managed to survive so long like this. “The kind of logic that keeps us alive.” Levi bit out. “How do you plan on cutting their necks if they’re chained up?” 

Eren seemed to deflate just a little, obviously not expecting Levi to challenge his logic. “I can undo the chains-” 

“And what would you do if one of them manages to bite you?” Levi continued as though Eren hadn’t spoken at all. “Roamer children move quicker than adults. You know that.” 

Frustration painted Eren’s face like nothing Levi had seen before in his admittedly limited time knowing the man. Fury at the entire situation manifested itself in clenched fists and gritted teeth and Levi found himself unable to look away from the intensity of it. “I don’t give a shit about that, they’re _children-_” 

“No,” Levi interrupted in a cold tone. “They _were_ children. What they are now is dangerous. Whatever horrors they went through when they were alive, whoever they were before... they’re gone.” The dead didn't feel, didn’t experience the same things living humans did. The only thing they cared about was hunting down the weak and cornering the strong, wearing down on their prey until they either broke or walked straight into their clutches. “If this is the worst thing you think is out there, then you’re in for a rude fucking awakening.” 

The insinuation combined with the carefully empty look in Levi’s eyes sent goosebumps prickling up and down Eren’s spine, the raised flesh visible in the slivers of light dancing in the dusty must of the shed. 

Levi watched the boy scramble for words for a moment before losing interest. Whatever Eren was going to do, it was his own choice. Levi had made his own. He would not put himself in danger by trying to take those things out when they were already stuck like birds in a cage. There was no one else to stop him if he got bit and tried to attack Eren, after all. 

Despite what he said to the kid, he didn't actually want him to get hurt. The chances of another Roamer hearing them and coming up to the shed was higher than the chances of those kids hurting Eren, anyway. 

He wouldn’t let that happen, and that was why he swiftly turned and made his way out the rotting doorway and back into the sweltering heat of the outside. Whatever Eren did in there was his own decision. 

_

Not a word was said as Eren followed his companion back into the dense thicket, sparing a quick glance over his shoulder at the run down shack one last time before gritting his teeth and turning his back to it. The fresh memory of soft, tiny fingers grasping at his clothing like a lost child searching for their mother’s attention made the bat in his hand feel infinitely heavier, the new stains marring the wood weighing heavily on his heart. 

He told himself it wasn’t his fault when the black haired man wouldn’t look at him as early evening finally set in around them, stealing the light they used as a guide and leaving pale moonlight in its place. There wasn’t enough time to keep looking for a reasonable shelter before it was too late. Levi seemed to think the same as the silent man began searching around the area of a cluster of rocks and boulders, a few hundred meters in front of them to their left. Whatever the short man saw there, he seemed to approve of, those pale hands gathering large branches and thick pieces of foliage he could find in his arms, the entire task feeling like it was only serving to help the man ignore Eren. Neither one of them spared a word as Eren tossed his backpack into the little stone alcove, the entrance not wide enough for the two men to go in at once. In fact, he had to squeeze himself in sideways just to fit into the little cavern. The dirt floor was covered in soft looking moss, the coolness of the stone encasing them making the still air trapped inside feel more comfortable than the blazing heat of outside. The space was barely big enough for them both to lie down at the same time but Eren was not about to voice his observation. The other man probably knew already; they weren’t exactly in a position to be picky about shelter. 

At least this way, if a Screamer found them, they could only get into the cave one at a time. 

With this in mind, Eren carefully sat on the cool moss beside his bag, and after careful consideration, curled his legs up in front of him to give the other man some room. Eren watched on with rapt attention as the older man slipped in through the entrance and dragged the branches and foliage behind him, the thick leaves and wood covering the opening to the cave and cutting off the streams of moonlight previously lighting up the small space. 

It was a smart move, Eren knew, but the sudden darkness surrounding them sent his heart into a frenzy, the poor organ beating against his ribcage when his sight was robbed. He hadn’t been lying earlier when he told the other that he trusted him. There was just something about the shorter man that commanded respect and radiated authority. 

And in this new world of uncertainties and chaos, normalcy was something he craved. 

“Sleep.” The man commanded as the sound of metal being unsheathed rang in Eren’s ears. Were his preconceptions wrong? Was this where he was going to be stabbed to death? Sure, he had a larger frame than his traveling companion, but that didn’t mean shit when he couldn’t see a damn thing. The blurry black outline of the only other living being in the cave slowly became visible as his eyes adjusted painfully slow to the lack of light. 

The other man didn’t look like he was poised to attack. In fact, he was seated right in the entrance a few feet away from the barricaded door, cross legged with his knife in his lap and his attention on the branches he had jammed there minutes ago. Or at least that was what Eren guessed he was doing with the limited sight he had. 

“I can hear you thinking. Just go to sleep before I knock you out.” That smooth and deep voice commanded him gently, as though trying to get a child to lay down and at least try to stay in bed. It was an odd tone coming from the other despite the actual words said, but Eren couldn’t deny he was exhausted. Before they found each other, he hadn't slept in quite some time. The noises the night brought kept him from a true, deep sleep, something his body screamed at him for the longer he went without. The sharp stones digging into his back weren’t helping him heed the other’s order in the slightest, so without a word, Eren slipped down onto the welcoming softness of the moss floor, the texture tickling his face until he pulled his backpack over to use as a pillow. 

When the sparse light of the moon managed to get through the barrier in the entryway and land on his face, Eren gruffly turned over and bared his back to the light in hopes the darkness would help him relax. Still, no matter how hard he tried and what positions he contorted into, the occasional shrill screech of Screamers hunting bounced around in the confines of the cave and prevented him from sleeping. It was an innate, primal reaction, he supposed. No normal person could sleep when danger was so close and so, so audible. 

That, and the memories of what he had done that day were something he would rather not deal with. 

The man keeping watch over them seemed to mistake Eren's lack of shifting around as a sign that he was asleep if the deep sigh he his ears picked up were any indication. Eren could feel the eyes on his back from where it was facing the other man, emerald eyes stubbornly glued to the dark stone wall of the cave in front of him. 

If the man wanted to think he was asleep, then fine. Eren was shit at pretending, but faking sleep was as easy as breathing. All he had to do was stay still and control his breathing so it appeared slow and even. 

After what felt like hours of straining his ears to hear even the tiniest of sounds, body too wired and focused on survival to afford him the luxury of sleep, Eren nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt something warm thread themselves through his hair. All the blood in his body quickly turned to ice in his veins when he realized he recognized the feeling. 

It was someone running a hand through his hair. 

Eren’s limbs tensed in preparation to attack before a gentle tug on his locks stung his scalp enough for him to realize the hand wasn’t trying to rip him apart. Instead, it was carding gentle fingers through his knotted strands as best it could, rounded fingernails scratching gently at the base of his neck and sending goosebumps down his spine. 

There was only one person it could be. 

It had to be the stranger he met in the library. Eren didn’t know why he felt the urge to give up watch and come put hands in his hair, but he would be lying if the rhythmic motion wasn’t soothing. Every tender touch brought calm and reassurance, the emotions washing over his nerves like a wave. As soon as the surprise left his body and his limbs loosened at the long lost touch of another living human, those fingers smoothing away his worry and helping put his mind at ease, Eren gave into the temptation and let his heavy lids fall closed. 

Far from his mind were the questions of why this was happening and what prompted the shorter man to do this when those calloused fingers brushed the hair from his face one last time before slowly retreating, a soft voice like a whisper filling the silence. “...Levi.” His travel partner breathed the name as though he would be committing an unspoken offense if he spoke too loud. 

“My name is Levi.” 

_

With morning came silent companionship, the tense air that had taken up residence in the space between them having banished itself sometime in the night. Instead, a comfortable quiet kept both men silent as Levi carefully picked apart the barrier he had sealed them inside the cave with. When the black haired man deemed the coast was clear, he easily pushed the branches out of the way and stepped out into the cloudy morning, Eren close behind him. 

A cool breeze rolled through the trees and brushed by them as they exited the cave, the chill air heralding goosebumps in its wake. The early morning temperature was infinitely better than the almost unbearable heat of the day, that was for sure. 

“Looks like rain.” Levi commented idly as he picked a jutting area of stone to take a seat on, gray irises underlined by sleepless purple eyebags turning skywards as the clouds grew ominously dark. 

Eren seemed to frown at this. Levi could guess why the kid didn’t like the idea of rain; it made everything beneath their feet slippery and getting mud off your skin was a pain in the ass. Not to mention the extra cover it gave Roamers, the mist and fog that tended to follow rainstorms shrouding the forest and making it appear creepier than it actually was. 

Or maybe Levi was just projecting. 

The ache in his left ankle told him his hypothesis was correct though; it was definitely going to rain that day, and if it did, they would have to find somewhere to hole up in until it passed. 

“Did you sleep at all last night, Levi?” Eren’s softly accented voice quickly pulled Levi out of his musings. Exhausted eyes glanced over at said man, watching the young adult struggle with the zipper of his backpack in a valiant attempt to get it open. It was a double-edged question; if Levi said he had, then Eren would most likely be upset that he wasn’t woken for his turn to be lookout. If he said he didn’t, then the other man might see it as weakness and become angry that Levi was ignoring his health. 

It was a lose-lose situation. 

“I slept enough.” Levi answered after a moment’s hesitation. All hopes that Eren hadn’t been awake when he admitted his name in the cover of night went right out the window. Realizing the other man had been conscious was still a better alternative to seeing those broad shoulders tremble in the darkness, the tall frame of the boy he met curled into a ball so tight Levi was convinced he had been trying to force himself to disappear. The sparse whimpering sounds Eren made subconsciously were enough to pull at Levi’s heartstrings and the rising volume of them had been concerning. 

There was no way he could just sit there all night and listen to those pathetic noises. 

The soft noise of shifting fabric pulled him out of his head and back into the present. Eren finally got his backpack open and began rifling through it, searching for what, Levi didn’t know, until the boy’s face lit up a small degree when his fingers brushed whatever he was looking for. A little bag was quickly tossed onto his lap from Eren’s direction and Levi didn’t have the energy to swipe it off onto the ground before he saw what it was. 

Chips. 

More specifically, the bag of chips Eren had thrown at him when they met in the library. The brat had undoubtedly picked it up when Levi rejected it and shoved it into his bag. The contents were probably little more than a mess of powder and fragments of the original chip size at this point, the foil packaging making a racket when Levi picked it up off his lap and examined it. “Chips for breakfast, huh?” He mused. 

“You look like you need it. I don’t know about you, but I feel a whole lot better now that I got some sleep.” 

Levi scoffed as Eren opened a protein bar and scarfed down half in a few bites before shoving the remaining bit back into his backpack. 

Not one to stomach food so early in the morning, the sun barely peeking through those dark clouds enough to illuminate the woods, Levi gently put the bag of chips into his bag before bringing out a chipped and weathered looking cup from its confines. Veridian eyes watched him as he carefully took out a bottle of water and poured just enough in the cup for it to be half full, a Ziploc bag of tea bags quickly being pulled from his backpack as well. Some of the bags were used already; finding tea wasn’t an easy feat at the end of the world, so reusing them was the only thing he could do to make them last until he found more. The faint hint of flavor was a far cry from a steaming cup of his favorite brand, but the disgusting lukewarm mess would have to do for the moment. 

“Not much of a talker, are you.” Eren observed as he took a seat on a conveniently placed flat rock a few feet across from Levi, his attention solely on the other seated man. Levi didn’t feel the same fight or flight sense prickling down his spine when those eyes were on him now. If the kid had wanted to kill him, he had let a lot of easy opportunities go. Not only that, but Levi refused to be killed by a kid whose hair was flat on the side he had been sleeping on, a good chunk of the strands having wormed their way out of the bun they had been confined in and sticking up in weird angles. 

A slight shrug of his shoulder was his answer. “Haven’t had much opportunity to be, lately.” 

That seemed to quiet Eren as the meaning behind the words sunk in. It was true; neither of them had seen anyone alive in much too long, and Levi was never good at words anyway. Eren seemed the opposite though. The more the kid was subjected to silence when it was safe to speak, the more he seemed to want to run his mouth. Levi couldn’t blame him for blabbing like he had cabin fever just to fill the silence. 

It was nice to hear someone else’s voice. 

Shrill songs of birds hidden high in the trees sang songs for them as Eren shifted his gaze away from Levi and to the surrounding thicket around them, taking everything in as they both readied themselves for another long day of traversing through the woods. He could admit the sounds of nature were as relaxing as they had been before shit hit the fan, but what he really wanted to hear right then was another voice, another reassurance that he wasn’t alone. 

It had to be the lack of sleep making him so needy. 

Levi watched Eren scout out their location for another moment before speaking. “Where are you headed?” If this kid was going to follow him, he might as well know if Eren was going to have to split up with him at some point. Hell, neither of them had even discussed where they were going. His voice seemed to startle Eren out of the reverie he had gotten himself into it seemed, the brunette jumping minutely at the sound. 

“I’m going to Shiganshina.” 

Only years of harsh military training kept the surprise off Levi's face at the declaration, his hand freezing with his cup of shitty improvised tea for a split second before he calmly took a sip, steel gaze focused entirely on the man across from him. The sharp tang of the usually watered down tea suddenly tasted bitter in his mouth. “Oh?” 

Eren sighed and tried to run a hand through his hair before grimacing at the greasy texture and frowning at the appendage as he brought it to his lap to rest on his backpack instead. A tense but imploring silence settled between the two. Levi had given an invitation to share and Eren was not about to let it go it seemed. Stress bitten nails began to pick at the seam of his roughed up backpack as Eren hesitated. “It’s where my home is. I... heard the infection broke out there, that it was where patient zero had been.” 

Levi kept his face cool and disinterested as Eren spoke. 

“Well, it’s actually my parent’s house.” 

Levi took a careful sip of his tea. “What’s there that’s so important?” 

Eren looked at him as though that were the dumbest question he had ever been asked. It was a valid concern though, at least in Levi’s eyes. There were no promises his parents were there, if they were who he was looking for. in fact, there were no promises they were even _alive. _

“My mom. She’s supposed to be there with my sister and my best friend.” 

Well, Levi had been half right. “Shiganshina is where the outbreak started. That place is going to be swarming with the undead. Are you sure they’re going to be there?” 

Determined ocean colored eyes glared at him from where Eren was sitting on the edge of his rock, tan hands clenching into fists on his lap. “My father was... crazy, to put it lightly. He was the kind of person who bought survival packs and stored them in the basement instead of feeding his family. He had this idea there was an ever-looming apocalypse,” a certain brand of fury flamed behind those expressive eyes as Eren spoke about his father, “Fucking figures. A practicing doctor with respect in the community forced his family into poverty behind closed doors to build a bunker on a hunch.” 

The idea of safe houses and bunkers didn’t appeal to Levi. They never worked out; all it took was one dumb asshole to get the rest of the people inside killed. He had seen it more than once, been a part of one when the virus first started, in fact. But the way Eren spoke, the way he described his father and everything he poured into being prepared... 

Levi refused to acknowledge the flicker of hope that burned in his chest. 

Eren was oblivious to the Levi’s inner turmoil and thus pressed on. “That asshole gave me this key and told me that if anything ever happened to take it home-” tan fingers pulled a brass key out from under his shirt, the chain keeping it around his neck looking old weathered, “and use it to get into the bunker. He told me he’d take my mom in there and keep her safe until I got there.” 

“What about your sister and friend?” 

Again, that determined ferocity flared to life in Eren’s eyes. “They’ll be there.” 

Despite himself, Levi almost found himself believing the boy. 

If Eren was going to Shiganshina then they were headed in the wrong direction. Levi had been making his way toward the edge of the Trost district when they ran into each other, headed East while Eren seemed to be heading South. The Titan Forest separated Trost from Shiganshina, which was most likely where they were now. Scattered homesteads and little towns were set up all through the forest Eren would have to go through to reach his home- potentially Roamer infested lands that would prove difficult to go through if there weren’t any reliable places to camp out for the night. 

Not every part of the forest had little natural caves like the one they had stumbled upon last night. 

“You’re a long way from home, then.” Was all Levi said when Eren was done his explanation, the tea in his cup slightly increasing in temperature now that the sun was coming up. 

A quick and moist tongue darted out between cracked and bitten lips to wet them before Eren spoke. “You don’t have to come with me. If Shiganshina is really where this whole thing started, then it's gonna be really dangerous.” 

Silence settled between them as Eren’s unasked question weighed on them. Truthfully, Levi didn’t have anywhere he was aiming to go. Everything he had known had been back home, in the familiar and comforting apartment he kept spotless, but there was nothing left there that would give him any reason to stay. 

No, it was better if he left that place and never returned. 

Eren squirmed under the lack of talking now that he seemed to get back into the swing of conversing with another human being. He didn’t seem upset that Levi didn’t verbally volunteer to go with him back to his hometown. In fact, those broad shoulders seemed to lose some of the tension they were holding. “Where are you going? I kinda just followed you, I don’t know where you’re headed.” 

“I’m not headed anywhere in particular.” The gritty insides of the tea bag Levi was using for the third time seemed to have leaked outside its protective case, tiny leaves leaving the bag and coating the bottom of his cup. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a tear ripped right on the seam of it, the seal holding the whole thing together damaged by the repeated uses and finally breaking. 

Eren took his sparse response and ran with it. “Where are you from, then?” 

Calculating gunpowder eyes watched as the contents of the tea bag fully seeped to the bottom of his cup, covering the surface with a murky off gray color. The shade of gray reminded him of his apartment walls, the muted steel color soft and calming in the past but irritating and disappointing in the present. “Doesn’t matter now.” 

Disappointment clouded Eren’s eyes for a moment before he gave a little nod and stretched his legs to stand up off the rock, the hard surface surely not too comfortable. That tattered backpack of his was quietly hefted onto his shoulders as Eren huffed a quiet breath and looked South, the faraway look in his eyes suggesting he was trying to see through the foliage to gauge how many days of travel that lied ahead. 

“No... I guess it doesn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :')


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days flew by in a flurry of traversing through the rubble of what once was by day and setting camp up somewhere feasibly safe at night. Each day was treated differently than the last. Some days Levi’s ankle hurt him too much to move fast and he single handedly slowed their progress. On those days Eren would wordlessly slow his pace to keep stride with the Levi, silently providing stability and a shoulder to lean on when he knew the other man couldn’t keep up. Hell, he even took both their packs, slinging them over broad shoulders without a single complaint when normally he would gripe and complain. 
> 
> Other days it was Eren who was different. Levi hated those days more than the ones where his old injury cruelly reminded him just how much he was holding them back. The normally talkative green eyed man would be silent as a shadow, a haunted look on his face that gave Levi a sour taste in his mouth and a knot in his stomach. 
> 
> Those days Levi could swear Eren wanted to tell him something, those chapped lips parting as if to bestow some kind of secret on him only to change their mind and snap closed. A mask of indifference would take over his expression and it would be the end of any conversation for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added another chapter to this just because it's too long to squeeze into 5 chapters like I thought.

Days flew by in a flurry of traversing through the rubble of what once was by day and setting camp up somewhere feasibly safe at night. Each day was treated differently than the last. Some days Levi’s ankle hurt him too much to move fast and he single handedly slowed their progress. On those days Eren would wordlessly slow his pace to keep stride with the Levi, silently providing stability and a shoulder to lean on when he knew the other man couldn’t keep up. Hell, he even took both their packs, slinging them over broad shoulders without a single complaint when normally he would gripe and complain. 

Other days it was Eren who was different. Levi hated those days more than the ones where his old injury cruelly reminded him just how much he was holding them back. The normally talkative green eyed man would be silent as a shadow, a haunted look on his face that gave Levi a sour taste in his mouth and a knot in his stomach. 

Those days Levi could swear Eren wanted to tell him something, those chapped lips parting as if to bestow some kind of secret on him only to change their mind and snap closed. A mask of indifference would take over his expression and it would be the end of any conversation for the day. 

It wouldn’t be until they were holed up in some abandoned backyard shed or decrepit building that Eren would change. Guarded ocean eyes would stop trying to avoid his gaze. They would instead watch Levi from where the tan man was huddled up in a moth bitten blanket mere feet away, that gaze so visceral and unwavering that Levi felt it like a physical touch. 

Eren watched him at night like he was afraid he would disappear if he looked away even for a second. 

The backdrop of guttural clicks and shrieks on the other side of their makeshift hideout in the otherwise still night were the only thing that managed to phase Eren. Screamers seemed to unsettle him the most, as they should, Levi thought. Those athletic freaks were a force to be reckoned with when hunting prey at night. 

What better time to hunt a species than when their field of vision was drastically impaired? At least the Roamers were slow and relied on numbers to really do damage. 

Screamers, though... Screamers were a whole other kind of headache. 

Nothing about them was easy to deal with. From their shrill screams that attracted more of their kind to swarm when they found prey to the sheer _speed_ they possessed; Screamers were a formidable opponent. Not many living people had enough energy and stamina to outrun one, let alone more than one. 

Fighting them was just out of the question. 

When night fell and they were rendered more useless than trapped cattle, Levi refused to let either of them speak unless he was sure their temporary shelter had thick enough walls to whisper without the nocturnal hunters outside hearing them. Their location was easy to pick out, in all honesty. For as terrifying a predator as the Screamers are, their noise level when they shrieked under the light of the moon was loud enough to shatter ear drums. Stalking their victims in a stealthy manner wasn’t in their monstrous repertoire either. They stomped around and ran full throttle without a care, bumping into whatever got in their way or tearing it down when it came between them and their prey. 

That night, Levi managed to get them situated in the basement of an abandoned house, the concrete walls and thick, heavy door secure enough to let some of the tension held in his shoulders bleed out and be replaced with cautious relief. 

The thicker the walls, the quieter the screams of the unfortunate. 

Levi silently raided the nearly empty pantry for supplies while Eren scrounged around the forgotten junk littering the corners of the basement in search of something to sleep on. “There’s absolute shit down here.” Levi hissed when the only thing he could find to take with them were some brand new toothbrushes, but no toothpaste. Great. 

“I don’t know about that, Levi. I found some nice blankets for tonight.” Eren piped up quietly from the opposite end of the basement, holding up an obviously handmade quilt, the patterns on it so bright and jarring to the eye even in the dark that Levi couldn’t help but frown. 

“Looks like whoever grandma made that for didn’t like it too much.” The shorter man retorted as he stuffed the three sealed toothbrushes into his backpack for later before carefully picking his way across the cluttered basement toward Eren. 

The brunette snorted at his comment before carefully laying the blanket down on the clearly thrifted rug on the ground beneath them and letting his backpack drop onto it to serve as a pillow. “It’s not so bad. At least there aren’t any bedbugs or stains on it this time.” 

Levi shuddered at the reminder of the blanket they had uncovered on their second night in the Titan Forest, the suspicious stains on it enough to make the black haired man want to throw himself into a river. Eren seemed to read his expression, if the little snort that left him was any indication. “You know, you remind me of my sister.” The boy admitted as he patted the blanket he arranged on the floor, indicating he wanted Levi to lay down on it. It was Eren’s turn to be lookout, after all. 

“Hmm.” Levi made a halfhearted noise of acknowledgement as he set his knife down on the floor beside Eren’s backpack-turned-pillow and carefully laid down on the hard surface with his back facing Eren. It wasn’t comfortable by any means but it sure beat having to listen to the other man complain about his lack of sleep. 

It wasn’t Levi’s fault that sleep was hard to come by these days. 

Eren seemed to take his brief reply as an opportunity to continue talking. “It’s just- you remind me of her,” He repeated, visibly struggling for the right words as he sat down cross-legged beside Levi’s prone form. “You’re both really strong and just have this vibe going on.” 

“A ‘vibe’. Nice description.” Levi snarked even as he closed his eyes and willed the darkness of the basement to lull him to sleep so he could get this over with faster. Despite Eren trying multiple times to assure him that yes, he was a good lookout, Levi wasn’t too keen on having his life in the other man’s hands quite yet. That boy could trip over the only rock on the path ahead of them; Levi had seen him do that, in fact, and wasn’t reassured by anything Eren said. 

Eren frowned at Levi as he hunkered down and drew his knees to his chest, lost in memories of his sister and family, no doubt. His sudden silence was eventually what grated on Levi’s nerves enough to force him to flip over so he was facing the silent man. Sleep wasn’t going to come to him when such a tense air surrounded them, anyway. 

“Eren,” Levi murmured into the darkness toward the figure curled up beside him. It was as if Eren was trying to fold into himself and cease to exist, lost in his own little world. It made Levi’s chest ache in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time, sort of the same feeling he got when he saw an injured animal he couldn’t help. “What’s your sister’s name?” 

The gentle tone in his voice seemed to pull Eren out of his thoughts enough to meet Levi’s eyes, fear and sadness painting his face so clearly that it was almost shocking. Gray eyes watched as Eren lowered his gaze down to the gaudy, scratchy handmade quilt under Levi. “Mikasa. She’s the best sister I could ask for. I mean, yeah, she can be a little overbearing, but I know it’s just because she cares, y’know?” 

Levi hummed once again and settled down for what was sure to be a long night. If talking was what would keep Eren from looking like he was about to come apart at the seams, then Levi was more than willing to give up a night’s rest to make sure that didn’t happen. It wouldn’t be the first. 

The tense rigidness in those broad shoulders lessened as Eren kept talking, boldened by Levi’s attention being on him. “She’s really forgiving, too. One time when I was a kid, I was being a shit and refused to sit down and accidentally knocked her out of her chair during dinner. She grabbed onto the tablecloth to keep from falling over but she brought down the plates with her. One of them broke and cut her.” Eren’s expression twisted into a guilty grimace at the memory. “She has a scar on her cheek from that. Didn’t blame me even though I was the one who did it.” 

There was nothing Levi could say to him that would lessen his obvious guilt over a mistake made long ago. It wasn't his place to say anything anyway, he figured, so he just made a noise of acknowledgement and silently prompted Eren to keep talking about his family as though they were still alive, still out there somewhere fighting for their lives and not wandering the streets craving the taste of flesh. 

“She’s really smart too. So is Armin. Actually, Armin is the smartest person I've ever met. He’s been my best friend since we were kids.” 

Bathed in the darkness and unable to do anything other than lie there and listen, Levi allowed himself to relax against the itchy blanket and imagine the people Eren was spinning stories about. Against all hope, he prayed they were still alive. The toll finding them dead would bring the green eyed man would be enough to break him, Levi was sure. With the way he spoke about them, as though they were his whole world, it was clear as day that it would be catastrophic if even one of them weren’t among the living. 

Eren sucked on his bottom lip for a moment before an air of hesitation surrounded him. “Those kids back in that shed, they- they reminded me of them.” 

And there it was. The vulnerability that Levi had glimpsed more than once in jade eyes when Eren’s friends and family were brought up flashed across suddenly misty eyes as thick brows drew downward in a look of pure misery. 

“Those kids weren’t them. They're still out there, but Eren-” Levi steeled himself for the possible backlash what he was about to say could bring, “-you have to consider the possibility that they could be... not how you remember them.” 

Immediately, those previously grieving eyes were on him, the black of Eren’s pupils nearly encompassing the fiery ocean irises practically vibrating with fury. “What-” 

“I’m not saying they’re turned,” Levi quickly added before the kid started freaking out and attracted Screamers. The walls were only so thick. “But this kind of world... it destroys people. It breaks their minds, and not everyone is strong enough to pick up the pieces and continue as they were before.” 

His explanation didn’t seem to calm Eren. It just made him look even more upset. “They’re the strongest people I know. Don’t assume they-” 

“Listen,” Levi interrupted. “I’m not saying they’re not out there kicking ass; I'm saying that you need to be prepared for whatever happens. There are so many things out there trying to kill us. There’s no reason to become a danger to yourself.” 

Eren seemed to struggle with words for a moment as his mouth hung open uselessly before he snapped it closed and glared at Levi with such hatred that it actually disturbed the black haired man for a moment. 

“They’re stronger than I am. If anyone is surviving this hell, it’s them. They- when we split up-” teeth in dire need of brushing tore at his bottom lip as memories undoubtedly passed through Eren’s mind’s eye. “When we split up, they were doing much better than me. We were surrounded. My sister and Armin were pushing back against the door, barely holding them back. I knew we wouldn’t make it if someone didn’t get their attention so I... I created as much noise as I could and ran out the back door,” thick brown brows drew together under eyes simmering with hatred, the look of frustration plain as day on his face. Tanned hands pushed greasy brown strands of hair out of his face as Eren hesitated, not bothering to try to tuck them back into the bun they came from as they stubbornly fell right back where they were in front of his eyes. 

Levi didn't say a word to encourage him to continue. If Eren wanted to get this off his chest then it was his decision and his alone. Gray eyes continued to silently stare at the other man, fighting to get a glimpse of his expression through the thick strands of chocolate brown hair that cast his face in shadows. 

“They were so _fast_, Levi,” Eren finally whispered into the darkness as though it pained him to remember, pained him to admit how much of a formidable opponent they are. “It was like they didn’t care about Mikasa or Armin once they had someone to chase. I ran for what felt like hours until they lost sight of me and stopped chasing.” 

Levi didn’t have the heart to ask what happened to Eren’s friend and sister. He wasn’t even sure Eren himself knew what happened to them if, somehow, they hadn’t made it to the bunker, though the hope that burned like a fire in his eyes was strong enough to snuff out some of the doubt Levi held about the fate of the two. The fact that Eren had been traveling alone when they met but held such strong conviction spoke louder than any words the boy could have voiced. 

There was no use trying to reason with Eren when he got like this. Stubbornness was as strong in him as his somewhat warped sense of justice, and Levi had learned weeks ago that trying to argue with the boy when he had his mind made up was like trying to talk to a sack of bricks. 

The only thing he could do was wait. 

\-------- 

Morning brought muted rays of sunlight cutting through the bushes outside and filtering into the basement through the little windows placed at ground level. They were warm and promised a long day of heat, and as much as Levi hated excessive heat, he hated the cold and dampness of cellars more. There was just something so creepy about them. 

Levi had relieved Eren of his watch a mere handful of hours after their talk, the brunette clearly needing the rest more than he did. The bags under his eyes and moisture lingering at the edges spoke of a deeper exhaustion, practically begging for a good night's sleep. He was right in his assumption; Eren was out as soon as his head hit the makeshift pillow, soft noises that spoke of his deep slumber the only sound filling the dark room. 

Belongings were packed up and the solitude of the basement was left behind as Levi and Eren crept up the stairs and through the house, thankfully just as empty as it had been the night before when they stumbled upon it. From there, it was easy to set back off into the woods in companionable silence, the out of the way little house far from any other towns or homesteads. 

It was just as well. Levi had an inkling that, had they been around a more populated place, they would run into more trouble than they were up for that day. Eren seemed to appreciate the untouched nature around them with a smile as the house disappeared from view, tall and thick trees shrouding it the further they moved. 

“You know what I miss?” Eren broke the silence with his softly accented voice, the timbre of it so unique and so fitting of the boy that Levi temporarily forgot to answer his question, lost in the sound of another person’s voice. Eren didn’t seem to mind his silence, a rueful smile on his face like he hadn’t expected an answer in the first place. “I miss driving. I know a lot of people hate it and it’s a bad idea right now, but I wish I could drive one last time. With the windows down, wind whipping through your hair, and a long road ahead-” Ocean eyes dropped down to the sleeves covering his arms, fidgety fingers picking at the seam as he spoke. “-it’s almost like flying.” 

The way Eren spoke, like he would never get to experience that feeling again, tugged at Levi’s heart. 

Levi leaned his head back until he could glimpse sparse spotting of sunlight through the canopy above, closing his eyes for a moment at the warmth. Silence resumed between them before he couldn't take the pensive look on Eren’s face anymore. “I miss doing laundry.” 

A beat of silence passed before Eren broke out into an incredulous grin. “_Laundry?_” He repeated in astonishment. 

While Levi didn’t appreciate the gawking, he noted with a muted sense of pride that Eren didn’t look upset anymore. “Folding things and neatly putting them back in their proper place once they’re clean...” he trailed off and turned his gaze down to his palms, his dirty fingers curling into fists before he shot Eren a look. “...it’s calming. Therapeutic, even.” 

Eren gave a little hum as he stepped a little closer to Levi and kept pace with him, ensuring they were less than an arm’s length apart. “Armin likes doing stuff like that. His thing was organizing his books; god, he had so many bookshelves. He could go through, like, two novels a day.” 

All at once, images of a tall and stocky man with blonde hair and thick eyebrows reclining in a soft armchair with a book in his large hands assaulted Levi’s memory. Clear eyes the color of a cloudless sky looking up from the text with a smile crinkling the corners as Levi walked in, a warm and deep voice welcoming him home and describing the book he was reading with such interest making Levi’s chest ache with such sudden pain that his footsteps stilled under the sheer weight of memories for a moment. 

“Erwin was like that too.” 

All too soon, the previously calm atmosphere surrounding them felt cold and suffocating as the sound of Eren’s footsteps halted for a moment before continuing and keeping pace, the obvious question in his eyes too much for Levi to confront when it felt like his lungs were seizing up in his chest. Eren must have seen the expression on his face and understood though, because mercifully, the boy didn’t say thing and just placed a large hand on his shoulder in consolation, the warmth and dampness of sweat seeping through the fabric of his shirt and searing his skin. The touch was gone just as quick as it had appeared, but Levi couldn't breach the silence to ask for it back in fear of having to confront emotions he had locked away to deal with when he was safe, when breaking down wouldn’t get him killed. 

When he could deal with it on his own away from prying green eyes. 

The yearning for that warm hand to place itself back on his shoulder was ignored dutifully as Levi forced the dark thoughts away and focused on the present. Concerned eyes were on him, he could tell, but the only thing that passed his lips when he opened them was, “You stink.” 

It obviously wasn't something Eren had been expecting, his jaw dropping in momentary offense at the insult that came from Levi without any real bite. It was said with the intention of being more teasing than a straight up jab, they both knew, but Levi was monumentally relieved when Eren took the bait and steered the subject away from where the shorter man had brought their conversation. “Hey, it’s not my fault I can’t take a shower!” 

“There’s no excuse for smelling like dog shit.” 

“You don’t exactly smell like a bed of roses, either.” Eren quipped back, the tense air slowly relaxing as they lapsed back into their usual teasing. 

“At least I make an effort.” Sure, not many people prioritized cleanliness during the end of the world, but Levi still had standards dammit. 

“Hey, speaking of bathing, do you think since there was a cabin a few miles away, there would be a pond or river or something close by?” Eren asked as they bickered about each other’s less than clean appearance and smell, the boy jogging ahead of Levi by a few yards in his sudden excitement. 

Levi supposed it made sense. With that cabin they stayed in so far out from any other houses they had seen, the chances of it being near a body of water was pretty high. Instead of searching for signs of a pond nearby though, he took the time alone to quickly pull himself out of the mood he had put himself in when bringing up the past. 

Dwelling on the past wouldn’t help either of them, and Levi had to constantly remind himself he wasn’t just trying to keep one person alive anymore. No, he was in charge of making sure both himself and Eren were healthy and lived to see the end of the hell their world had turned into, and that was exactly what he was going to do no matter what it took. 

“Levi!” 

The sudden call of his name had Levi’s heart pumping faster in a momentary panic as he was torn from his thoughts. Eren’s voice didn’t sound scared or pained as it bounced off the trees, but he sounded... surprised? In awe? Either way it was concerning and out of the ordinary, and Levi quickly unsheathed his knife in response and picked up the pace until he almost slammed into Eren’s back where the kid was standing stock still at the edge of a clearing. The feeling of a body bumping into him had the taller man turning back to him and grinning a wide smile, the dirt caked on his caramel skin making his eyes pop. 

Not a word was said between them as Levi stepped to the side from behind Eren and saw what had the kid so excited. 

The last thing Levi expected to find in this forest of huge ass trees was a body of water clean enough to bathe in. It was almost a pipe dream for how dry the land around them seemed, but that was exactly what Eren stumbled upon when he went barreling through the thick woods like some kind of human bowling ball on a mission. 

It was a lake nestled a few miles away from the tiny cabin they left that morning, blessedly free from dead bodies or drowned carcasses of animals. Large trees surrounded its perimeter and some of the branches even hung over the lake, shrouding it from view unless you were really looking for it. The natural pool wasn’t enormous by any means, but it was definitely big enough for each of them to bathe in. 

Levi could have cried. “I need a fucking bath,” was all that left his lips as he jogged toward the lake and squatted to begin unlacing his black boots at the edge of the water, eager to get the weeks' worth of crusty dirt and god knows what else off his skin. 

God, he needed this. 

“Uh-” Eren started as he watched Levi set his shoes and socks carefully to the side on a rock before beginning to work on his pants. “Do you want me to keep watch so we can take turns?” 

Free of his pants and quickly down to nothing but his briefs, Levi shot Eren an exasperated look. How he managed to make the brunette look absolutely terrified while unarmed and mostly naked was beyond him. “Yes. We’ll switch places when I’m done.” And with that, Levi eagerly but slowly wadded his way into the crystal clear water, cherishing the chilly embrace of it against his sunburned skin. Levi never was one to be shy about his body; being in the military and sharing bathrooms with countless other men quickly banished whatever hesitations he might have had. Besides, it wasn’t like they had the luxury of modesty when both he and Eren were stuck in this fucked up world. 

His thoughts trailed off as weeks of sweat and grime stuck to him like a second skin slowly dissipated as he scrubbed at his body with his bare hands before realizing it wasn’t going to be enough. 

“Is the water cold?” Eren asked in a carefully hushed voice, the tone of it odd enough for Levi to get suspicious. 

“Of course it is.” 

“Oh.” 

“Eren,” Levi called out as he turned to face the boy, walking toward the bank until the water was just touching his hips. “Go in my bag and toss me my bar of soap. This fucking dirt won’t come off.” 

Eren scrambled for the bag Levi had left tucked neatly beside his shoes, nearly tearing into it in a hurry to do what he was asked. The behavior was a complete one eighty from what he was used to from the kid he had been spending his time with lately. Definitely different enough from his normal behavior for it to be obvious when Eren wouldn't look at him as he found the soap and tossed it in a half-assed throw, forcing Levi to lunge further out of the water to catch it before it sunk to the bottom of the lake. 

He had gone through hell to find that specific brand of soap. “What the fuck kind of throw was that? Were you trying to hit a fish and knock it out?” 

Eren only scowled and plopped himself onto the grass in a cross legged position, the hand not holding his bat pulling up blades of grass around him absentmindedly, his face flushed. Whether the sun was the culprit or embarrassment from his horrid aim, Levi didn’t know, but the first swipe of the soap against his skin quickly had him entranced. At the end of the day all he had left were his habits, the only constant in his life once everything he knew was turned upside down. 

Habits were the only thing that couldn't be taken from him. He wouldn't let them be, which was why he scrubbed extra hard at his skin, hard enough to make his skin redder than the sun ever could, to erase the evidence of what this world was reducing him to before his mind followed suit. 

That being said, Levi might have taken longer than strictly necessary bathing in the lake. The sensation of the soap washing away old sweat and dirt left his skin feeling new and raw, almost as though he was soaking in his tub back in his old apartment and all of this was nothing but a mere nightmare. He was sure he stunk, and Eren _definitely_ did not smell good, so he figured the extra time scrubbing between his toes and underarms would be appreciated. The little ripples of water caressing his body brought a sense of relaxation he hadn’t felt in a long time, the cool temperature soothing aches he didn’t know he had in his muscles. If Eren weren’t there keeping watch, Levi doubted he would have ventured into the lake, no matter how his body and mind craved it. Leaving himself defenseless like this was only possible because he wasn’t alone for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. 

It wasn’t until he dunked his head underwater and scrubbed his scalp with dull fingernails that he deemed himself clean enough to get out and give Eren the same chance to be refreshed. “Hey,” he called out toward the kid who looked far too guilty for someone who was supposed to be keeping watch. “Your turn.” 

\---------------- 

Eren made sure to avert his eyes in some semblance of modesty as Levi came back toward shore, the water no longer covering his body as he calmly waited for the sun to dry him a bit before sliding his clothes back on with a grumble of displeasure. It must feel gross to finally be clean and then have to put back on old sweaty clothes immediately after. They didn’t have time to wash their clothes and wait for them to dry before moving on and he was sure Levi came to the same conclusion. Walking around in wet clothes was sure to get one of them sick, if not both. 

That wasn’t what he was thinking about, however. The words Levi had whispered into the forest like he was in his own world and hadn’t realized what he was saying replayed in Eren’s mind on a loop. Frustration and his inability to ask for clarification burned at his insides, the memory of that stricken look on the usually expressionless face making him feel all sorts of wrong. The way Levi suddenly clammed up as soon as the words left his lips told Eren that it wasn’t a subject he should breach. He didn’t make it a hobby to pick at other people’s wounds on purpose, and as he lost himself in his thoughts, his eyes quickly picked out the man in question in the lake. 

He knew it was wrong of him to watch Levi as he bathed. Hell, it was wrong even during the fucking apocalypse, but he couldn’t even pretend to be watching out for Roamers when Levi took his shirt off. 

For how short and unassuming the black haired man was, he was much more filled out than Eren thought. Arms that had held him down in the library like stone keeping a piece of paper from fluttering away gently flexed as the man scrubbed himself with the bar of soap, under his arms and over his chest, his back muscles shifting under pale and scarred skin with the effort. 

And oh, there were plenty of scars. Levi’s back looked like some kind of fucked up mosaic, old and faded silver lines crossing over each other in intricate patterns that had Eren entranced. Each of them held a story, he knew, but asking about them would reveal he wasn’t keeping watch and would likely anger Levi. One scar in particular looked more fresh than the others, the muted pink mark starting at the bottom of his ribs and traveling down his narrow waist toward a thick thigh hidden by water. 

He had caught a glimpse of Levi when he lunged forward the catch the soap he had thrown. Those scars weren't only on his back. They were more sparse and spread out, reaching down his thighs as well. And, despite how hard he tried to keep from looking, Eren saw what hung between his thighs. Even soft, the black haired man was bigger than he had expected given his stature. All too soon, the tantalizing sight was quickly taken from him when Levi turned his back to him and wadded deeper into the water with his caught soap, his tight and muscled ass disappearing beneath the surface. 

Thank god. Eren was no stranger to attraction. Before the world went to shit, he had gone through his fair share of crushes. Most teenagers did, as far as he knew. Levi, though... 

Levi was an enigma. 

The man spoke like a truck driver with a personal vendetta against everyone and everything, snide remarks and barked orders most of what Eren heard come from the man. Levi was sarcastic and abrasive in a way he had never encountered before, but despite his obvious ability to piss off anyone he talked to, he was gentle. Caring. The fingers that had carded through his hair like a tender lover in the cave they took refuge in their first night together were the same fingers that took down Roamers like it was second nature, the monster Levi took down as easy as breathing their first morning after meeting still clear as day in Eren’s memory. The lack of answers he got from Levi only added to the mystery of this walking contradiction of a man. 

“You going in the lake or am I going to have to push you in?” Levi’s deep voice shook Eren out of his thoughts, that sharp gray gaze on him like a physical touch. 

“Y-yea, sorry. Just thinking.” Was his excuse as he set his bat down and kicked off his shoes, watching them land feet apart and not bothering to arrange them neatly like Levi had. 

An unflattering snort met his ears as Levi tossed him the bar of soap. “I can see the smoke coming from your ears from here.” 

“Oh, shut up.” Eren bit back as he shucked his pants in the same manner he did his shoes, careful to keep his back to Levi in his nakedness but hesitating when his fingers touched the hem of his shirt. In no way was he shy about his body, but there were things he would prefer Levi not see. 

It would only force Levi to ask questions, and Eren didn’t have answers to give him. 

“Make sure you wash your ass and scrub between your toes. You smell like a dumpster fire.” Levi called out to him from the shore where he was watching Eren like he expected a Roamer to come up from the bottom of the lake and drag him under. 

Actually, that was an important thought. Could Roamers swim? 

“Yes mom,” Eren responded with a roll of his eyes as he did just that, sinking down into the water until his chin just grazed the surface. The water around him quickly turned brown from the old sweat and blood caked on him. He couldn’t smell himself anymore, his nose long since used to the putrid stink he surely carried around with him, but he was sure Levi could. The gray eyed man didn’t smell all that good either but the scent of musk and something manly was mixed in with the stench of blood and sweat. 

Eren was disgusted with himself when he caught himself thinking it wasn’t an entirely terrible smell on the man. The smell matched his personality; dangerous with an undertone of something foul, like his attitude. 

“Hurry it up.” Levi called out in an irritated tone when Eren forgot himself and stopped scrubbing his skin. It definitely felt like Levi took a longer time bathing, but it wasn’t a big deal. “Yeah, yeah, I’m done.” Snatching the hair tie out of his messed up bun, Eren copied Levi and dunked his head under the water and quickly tried to pull apart the knots with his fingers. The water helped a little, and before long, he could pass his fingers through it without an issue. 

There was one problem though. “Um,” Eren carefully cast a peek over his shoulder at where Levi was watching him with a critical eye. “Could you maybe turn around while I get out?” 

The look Levi gave him could have curdled milk. In fact, had he not spent the past few weeks with the man, Eren muses he might have shit himself at the sight. Now, though, he was pretty much immune to it- at least from this distance. Levi surprisingly did as he was asked after some mumbling, shifting so his newly clothed back was facing Eren. The brunette was quick to shuffle out of the water and toward his haphazardly sorted pile of clothes before Levi changed his mind and turned around. 

The calming sounds of bird calls and frogs croaking soon filled the silence between them as Eren dressed as fast as he could without falling over, his gaze stubbornly on Levi’s back until he was finished pulling his shirt over his head. The dry but grimy clothes felt horrible on his freshly rinsed skin, but they didn’t have much of a choice. He would just have to hope whatever house they plundered next would have some shorts and a long sleeve shirt in his size. “Ugh, I forgot how weird it feels to have wet hair sticking to the back of my neck,” he grumbled as he held his arms out to the side like they would keep his hair from dripping down his back before giving up on that endeavor and attempting to wring out the moisture. A few good seconds of trying to dry his hair yielded no results, so with a huff, he gave up and let his soaked locks flop back around his shoulders. 

The sun would dry it soon anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The question was innocent in the way it was asked, Eren’s eyes soft and imploring as he gazed at Levi with his mouth full of green beans. There was no way for him to know the insurmountable horrors Levi had seen in the weeks following the downfall of humanity, traversing through town after town with nothing but his knife for company. Eren couldn’t have known what he had been through, but God, he wasn’t ready to bring it up yet.

The gravely needed chance to bathe and clean both body and mind had both men in higher spirits as they traversed through the Titan Forest, the snap of branches and fluttering of leaves a pleasant background noise to add to the scenery. Being clean and washing away the evidence of struggling to survive did wonders for their moods, so much so that Eren didn't feel the need to break the silence with mindless banter. Neither man voiced a single complaint as their feet ached and their muscles burned throughout the day, the stress of constantly climbing up and down steep hills and slippery inclines a lingering pain that couldn't be ignored. 

Fortunately, with how much ground they covered that day, Eren and Levi found a small neighborhood before dusk settled in. The houses surrounding the little village surrounded by trees were old; if Levi had to guess, he would say they were a good half century old. Most of the paths to the houses were mere gravel, the windows of the homes either boarded shut or left alone, their glass revealing the inner dwellings families had to leave in a hurry. 

No matter how many places Levi picked his way through, no matter how many homes in various states of disrepair he’d seen, discovering a neighborhood so utterly vacant still sent a shiver of goosebumps down his arms and legs. There was just something so inherently _wrong_ with such a normally active and populated area being so barren and deserted. Even the house furthest away from the rest looked out of place with its stillness, but it looked more inviting than the rest of the useless buildings. None of the doors or windows were boarded up or broken; the door was still on its hinges and looked pristine- well, as pristine as an ancient door could look. Hell, with how the house looked, Levi half expected to break into it and find a whole family just sitting at their kitchen table, untouched and unaware of the nightmare they were living. 

Securing the house was much easier with another person. The whole process was made even more simple given the fact the house was completely deserted and seemingly untouched by the chaos around it, no sign of the undead or squatters dwelling inside once Levi disposed of a lone elderly Roamer lumbering around one of the mail boxes outside the second to last house on the block. 

“It almost looks untouched,” Eren whistled as he looked around the living room while wiping his hands on his pants, the dust from the old wooden door making his skin feel dry. 

Levi scoffed. “Untouched except for the busted down front door,” he retorted. “You didn’t have to kick it in just because it was locked.” 

“Details, details,” Eren tutted as he carefully made his way up the stairs with his bat at the ready, wandering the long hall full of framed pictures of a family he tried his best not to look at before throwing open the door to what was once a bedroom by the look of it, a large four poster bed in the center of the room. No undead jumped out at him and no living beings attempted to kill him as he inched his way around the room, so with a huff of satisfaction, Eren backed out of the room and headed to the third door in the hallway. There wasn’t any blood on the second story of the house, which he supposed was always a good thing, apocalypse or not, but they still had to err on the side of caution. Which was why, as Eren slowly turned the knob and cracked the door open, he half expected some kind of grotesque scene. 

That wasn’t what he discovered, however. A tiny twin bed was pushed against the wall in the corner and appeared just as untouched as the rest of the house. A poster of large humanoid monsters was hung above the bed on the wall, a humongous one reaching for a standing group of people in flowing green cloaks. Surprise had him lower his guard as his hand slowly let the death grip he had on his weapon loosen, the bat hanging limply by his side. 

A weird tingling feeling manifested itself in Eren’s chest and spread through his limbs as he gazed upon the shortest figure in the poster, the man’s short black hair ruffled by the smoke shrouding the edges of the picture, the undercut he styled it in the exact same as the man he was traveling with. There was something so strong, so reassuring in the set of those broad shoulders. 

Something so familiar, like a lost memory. 

“Eren,” Levi’s voice floated up from the downstairs, stern and questioning all at once. Eren realized the other man must have gotten nervous from his sudden lack of noise. 

“I’m fine!” Eren called down just loud enough for Levi to hear as he tore his gaze from the poster, “Just found a bedroom.” 

Even from upstairs, Eren could tell Levi was rolling his eyes. What a jerk. “Yeah, houses tend to have those.” 

“You know what, just for that, I’m not taking first watch tonight.” Eren’s retort was met by silence as he heard Levi stop rummaging and begin to make his way up the stairs, each step purposeful and nearly as quiet as the man himself. Eren peeked his head out of the doorway just as Levi reached the stop stair. 

Levi just gave him a dry look before pointedly ignoring the framed family photos just as Eren had as he made his way to the third door in the hallway, throwing open the door to reveal a bathroom directly across from the bedroom the Eren was in. Levi gave an appraising hum as he opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and began to search through it, pulling everything inside out onto the counter. Eren wandered over as Levi pulled out what looked like a bottle of antiseptic and set it in a different pile from the other miscellaneous things he had pulled from the cupboard. It wasn’t until slender fingers finally caught on a bottle of shaving cream that had seen better days that Eren got curious. Was Levi going to take it with them? Eren supposed it made sense, after all. They would only be staying there the night and then be on the move once again as soon as the sun came up. 

Not many houses were as fully stocked and free of the dead as this one was. They really hit the jackpot here. Actually, the past few places they had stayed in were empty too. Was Levi some kind of good luck charm or something? Before they had stumbled upon each other, Eren couldn’t remember a time where he found a place to sleep that wasn’t inhabited by at least one Roamer. If Levi was upstairs with him, then that meant the man had scoured the downstairs rooms for other people and came up with nothing, something Eren was grateful for. 

“Sit.” 

Eren ripped his gaze away from the bottle in those sturdy hands and looked down into hard steel, his mind not catching up to what was just said. Levi must have seen his confusion on his face because he just huffed and pointed to the toilet seat, his request bouncing around in Eren’s head. 

“But I don't have to shit,” Eren responded in confusion. 

Levi’s face twisted into a disgusted grimace at the words. “For fuck’s sake Eren, just sit on the goddamn toilet lid and shut up.” 

Well, now there was no way Eren was getting out of whatever the other man had planned. Long limbs folded themselves to sit gingerly on the toilet before Levi popped a blood vessel. 

Lord only knew how short the man’s patience was. 

“Uh, can I ask why I'm sitting here?” Eren began nervously as he watched Levi set the shaving cream down on the edge of the counter and reach down to his thigh for the knife he had hiding there. It was a nice knife, Eren had to admit. He knew firsthand how sharp it was and how lethally Levi wielded it, which was why he nearly contradicted his words earlier and almost shit his pants as Levi pulled it out and examined the steel. “H-hey, this isn’t funny, what are you-” 

“Your scraggly ass beard and mustache are offending my eyes.” 

Eren’s words got caught in his throat as Levi leaned down and pushed the brown hair hanging in his face off his forehead in a move so gentle and tender that the emerald eyed man’s breath caught in his throat. 

“Can’t use clean water to make your skin damp for this; it’s too valuable. Sweat should be enough, as absolutely disgusting as that is.” Levi scowled as he squirted just enough of the cool shaving gel onto his hand and gently coated Eren’s upper lip and jawline with it, the touch tingling and odd feeling after going so long without participating in this routine. In fact, Eren could admit he hadn’t spared a single thought toward shaving since this whole apocalypse thing started. It just wasn’t essential to survival, but Levi seemed to think otherwise. Maybe the bath they got to take earlier that day had brightened his mood and he was deciding to take it out on Eren by making him shave? 

Levi was just odd that way, Eren supposed. 

Hands that had taken down Roamers without even breaking a sweat were now gently running the sharp edge of the blade against his skin in gentle movements, the tenderness and care Levi was exhibiting in this simple daily task enough to knock the wind from Eren’s chest like an unexpected kick to the torso. 

Oblivious to his turmoil, Levi continued until one pale finger tapped Eren’s chin and began tilting his head back. “Don’t move, I don’t want to accidently cut you,” was what came rumbling out of his throat in the most calming, deep voice Eren had heard from him in all the weeks they had known each other. 

“I’ll try not to,” Eren mumbled, hating how breathless he sounded as he exposed his throat to the man in front of him. If Levi noticed, he didn’t let on, simply focusing on dragging the blade of his knife against the grain of Eren’s facial hair in efficient swipes. Each touch of those pale but thick fingers pulling his skin taut to shave it without cutting him sent weird sensations to Eren’s gut that he hoped didn’t show on his face. 

Now that the chance presented itself, Eren used the close proximity between the two of them to study Levi’s face. Sharp gunpowder eyes were housed by a set of thin but long lashes, each blink the man took fanning them out over undereye bags that spoke of the horror their lives had become. The barely there crease of crow's feet teased at the edge of the man’s weary eyes. Alabaster skin stretched over sharp cheekbones and down a sturdy neck to disappear beneath the plain white shirt the man wore, damp with sweat but not as dirty as it had been before he scrubbed the grime off his skin. Black bangs hung just above his eyes, the ends of the soft looking strands shifting every time Levi blinked.

All in all, Levi was peculiar in every sense of the word. He was unassuming and quiet, sharp witted and tenacious, and not at all what Eren thought he was when they first met.

Levi was beautiful in the way something ethereal was admired, in the way a deity was worshiped, and Eren was powerless to resist the growing admiration he felt for the man who cut his way through hell on earth to ensure they both lived another day.

“This is going to be a lot bloodier than it needs to be if you keep moving.” Levi grumbled as he not so gently tipped Eren’s head back to get the rest of the shaving cream off his throat, dragging Eren from his thoughts. He hadn't noticed he shifted to try and see more of his surly travel companion. 

“’m sorry.” Eren mumbled as he felt the edge of the knife skim over his Adam’s apple. It was a peculiar sensation having someone else shave his face. The experience wasn’t unpleasant, though it created an awkward kind of quiet that Eren hated with a passion, apocalypse or not. So, without a thought put toward what he was saying, he made the decision to fill the quiet. “Can we eat after this? I’m about ready to start eating the drywall if it means having something in my stomach.” 

Levi huffed a breath that sounded suspiciously close to a laugh. “Fine. I have a can of green beans you can have.” He agreed as he wiped the gunky mess of hair and shaving cream off his knife and onto one of the towels hanging on the wall in the bathroom. “Go get my bag from the kitchen counter.” 

Eren nearly scrambled off the toilet and out of the bathroom with a mock salute. The stairs were easy to get down when he knew food was his reward, the man taking them two at a time as he rushed to get the bag Levi had left on the counter. The black haired man must have deemed the place safe enough to leave his supplies lying around when they weren’t in the same room, but Eren didn’t spare much thought to that as he swiped a clean spoon off the dishes rack beside the kitchen sink and sped back up the stairs. 

Hunger was a powerful motivator. Eren’s stomach growled as he reached the top stair and peeked into the room with the small bed and posters to find Levi seated on the floor beside the bed with his back resting against the edge of the mattress, those sharp eyes taking in the room that must have belonged to a child once upon a time. 

“It’s not like you to leave your stuff unattended.” Eren observed as he tossed Levi’s bag to him and plopped himself down across from the brooding man. 

Levi opened his bag with sure fingers and fished out the can of green beans he mentioned earlier, taking in the sight of Eren watching him with a spoon clenched eagerly in his hand. “Quit making that face.” 

Eren scrunched his nose. “Can’t help it. Feels weird to finally have shaved skin after so long.” 

Gray eyes rolled at him as Levi tossed Eren the can he promised, not hungry enough himself to consume more of their dwindling rations but satisfied to see the other man eat. “Hmm.” 

“I don’t think I've ever seen you shave. Do you not have to?” Eren asked as he bashed the lid of the can with the end of the spoon, a satisfied look sparkling in his eyes when he managed to pry the lid off. 

Levi rolled his head back until it rested on the mattress of the small bed, his body relaxing as the sound of a spoon clinking against the can echoed in the room. “I do it before you wake up. Easier that way.” 

Well that was news to Eren. Not that it was anything significant considering their lives, but it was still a piece of information he cherished. “You mentioned a name earlier today. Were you always traveling alone?” 

All at once, the easy atmosphere between them turned cold and tense. 

The question was innocent in the way it was asked, Eren’s eyes soft and imploring as he gazed at Levi with his mouth full of green beans. There was no way for him to know the insurmountable horrors Levi had seen in the weeks following the downfall of humanity, traversing through town after town with nothing but his knife for company. Eren couldn’t have known what he had been through, but God, he wasn’t ready to bring it up yet. 

He had only just managed to shove everything into a corner of his mind to keep from breaking. “No.” Came his cold reply. The light filtering into the childish room bathed their skin in warmth, but Levi couldn’t feel any of it. His entire body felt frigid, his heart pounding in his chest in a way he wasn’t certain was normal. It was the kind of feeling he got when he and his recon squad were on a mission, the earpiece in his ear buzzing with static and a disturbing lack of voices of the team he hand picked louder than his own breathing. 

Eren’s gaze soon turned softer as understanding dawned, the nick from Levi’s knife trickling a minuscule amount of blood. “...Do you want to talk about it?” 

Despite waves of despair washing over Levi as painful memories were resurfaced, he could appreciate the concern the other man was showing him. Still.. “You sure are talkative for someone who has a whole can of food left to eat.” 

It was avoidance, but Eren wouldn’t let him deflect so easily. The stubbornness that kid possessed was truly something to behold. “I told you about Mikasa and Armin. Yeah it sucked to talk about what happened, but it helped a little. I wanna help you, too.” 

“You’ll be helping me if you shut up and finish your food.” 

“Levi.” 

Suddenly, the unsatisfying smell of green beans shoved into a can and floating in gross water made Levi want to escape the room as fast as he could. His legs felt like cement suddenly, the appendages refusing to listen to him and keeping him tethered in that room against his will. An exhausted sigh passed between Levi’s lips as he met those stubborn eyes head on with a hard gaze of his own. “I don’t want to talk about this, Eren.” 

“But-” 

“_Please._” 

Curiosity warred with self preservation plain as day on Eren’s face. Levi suspected the kid had ulterior motives for asking about something that still stung like an arrow through his chest but didn’t have the heart to fully turn the boy down when he looked at him with so much concern. While it was true Eren himself had offered up the information about Mikasa and Armin unprompted, Levi supposed there was nothing he could lose by telling him. 

After all, what could he possibly lose when he had already lost everything? 

“I’ll tell you tonight, alright? Just give me some time.” Time to come to terms with what he had pushed to the back of his mind to deal with when he was safe to break down, safe to properly mourn in his own time. 

Eren’s mouth opened as though to say something but immediately snapped closed a moment later, the man giving Levi a curt nod of understanding as he tucked back into his can of green beans, the taste of them like ash on his tongue. 

_ 

It was the time of year where days teetered on the edge of humid, but nights were cold and unforgiving. Night rolled in like a black tide that snuffed out any signs of light earlier and earlier, giving the Screamers more time to hunt as the sun set sooner in the day. 

Ever since Levi had practically begged him to not bring up the name the black haired man had uttered earlier in the child’s room, Eren found himself with conflicting feelings. The irrational need to know everything about Levi and what made him so reluctant to talk warred with his burning desire to hunt down whoever or whatever had hurt him and gut them. The conflicting feelings quickly gave him a stomachache only made worse by Levi’s unwillingness to entertain him with mindless banter. “Summer will be over soon.” Eren observed quietly as he gazed out the window of the room with the posters, carefully keeping an eye out for anything that moved on the land around them. So far, not a single Roamer was spotted, but that didn’t mean a horde of them couldn’t come waltzing through the forest. 

“Help me carry these.” Levi demanded as he nearly tripped on the corner of a comforter as he dragged them into the master bedroom Eren had discovered earlier. 

Pulling his attention from the window to focus on the man struggling with the linens, Eren chewed his lip to keep from smiling as he helped Levi arrange them on the large mattress in the master bedroom, both men studiously ignoring the personal belongings scattered around the area of the family who once lived there. Seeing their faces and personal trinkets wouldn't do their mental health any good. “Who’s taking first watch?” Eren made conversation as he checked the window he had been looking out of one last time before beginning to barricade it with furniture found in the room, leaving Levi to wrangle the blankets. 

“No one’s taking watch tonight. We’re getting some fucking sleep even if it kills us.” Was Levi’s response as he made the bed piled high with a ridiculous amount of blankets, stacking one on top of the other until they had a fairly sizable pile. 

That gave Eren pause. Never before had Levi relented and willingly allowed them to rest without someone keeping vigil. “You sure?” 

Levi just stared at Eren until the taller man started to squirm. “I mean, are you sure this place is safe enough?” Eren clarified. 

Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance as he smoothed the sheets. “I found some paint in the basement. Wrote “Dead Inside” on the front and back doors when we first got here. Pretty sure no one is dumb enough to come inside after seeing that, if there’s even anyone out there to begin with.” 

“Oh.” 

The rustling sound of Levi removing his shirt and pants met Eren’s ears as the shorter man neatly folded his only belongings and set them on the bedside table. Keeping their dirty garments away from the bed to prevent them rolling around in filth was a smart idea. Eren knew that, but his pounding heart thought otherwise as he took a glimpse of Levi in only briefs. The sight of that porcelain skin wasn't new. Eren had seen him at the lake, seen _all_ of him, but with the illusion of safety surrounding them and muffling the voice in his head telling him to keep watch, that danger was just around the corner, it was easier to feel human again. To feel embarrassment, timidness, and interest instead of fear. 

“Get your lanky ass over here and go to sleep. You look like those walking compost piles outside.” Levi demanded as he slipped between the covers and let out an appreciative noise at the feeling of clean sheets against his skin, a critical eye trained on Eren the entire time. 

Eren had the nerve to look mildly offended despite feeling his cheeks heat up. Whether it was embarrassment of getting caught looking or the sight in front of him, he wasn’t sure. “Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.” 

Levi scoffed as he made himself comfortable with his back to Eren, his gaze practically boring a hole into the closet across from him. “I’m not trying to flirt with you, I’m trying to keep you from dying from sleep deprivation.” 

A hush fell over them as Eren obeyed and carefully removed his pants, leaving himself in only his relatively clean long sleeve shirt and boxers that had seen better days. Nervous hands folded his clothing much like Levi had before setting his pants on the floor beside the bed. 

Eren was practically vibrating with nerves as he slipped under the covers beside Levi and laid down on his back, the plush give of the mattress a welcome respite for his weary muscles. A solid two or so feet kept them apart beneath the sheets; Eren made sure of it as he stayed as close to the edge of the bed as he could. Being naked with Levi when the sparse chance to bathe came along was one thing, the both of them still out in the open and in danger, but lying beside an almost naked Levi in the darkness of night with nothing but the sound of nature outside the reinforced window and Levi’s slow breaths to drown out his heartbeat... that was something else entirely. 

“I can hear you thinking.” Levi broke the silence with his low voice, the timbre of it gravelly as exhaustion took over his body now that it had a chance to rest. Yet he didn’t sound annoyed, a fact Eren would have found hard to believe had he not heard it with his own ears. 

Eren laid still as a statue on his back and folded his hands over his abdomen, his eyes tracing the blurry lines of Levi’s blanket covered side in the dark. “Sorry.” He whispered. 

Levi shifted minutely under the covers, bending his leg just enough to brush a cold foot against Eren’s leg. “You need sleep. This is a chance that won’t happen again.” 

“I know.” 

The familiar irritation was back in Levi’s voice. “I swear to God, I’ll knock you out if it means you’ll sleep.” 

Eren chewed his bottom lip before turning his gaze back to the ceiling to avoid staring at Levi’s back for too long. The man probably had eyes on the back of his head. “I just can't sleep. I keep thinking about my friends, my family...” He drifted off before returning his gaze to Levi’s back. “I keep thinking about you.” 

Neither of them made a sound as Eren forced his heart to slow down and focus on the ugly beige pattern of the blanket covering them just to avoid looking at Levi, refusing to react when that stock still body suddenly shifted as the black haired man chanced a glance over his shoulder. Levi only maintained eye contact for a few seconds before shifting those piercing eyes toward the closet again. “Ah. I promised you, didn’t I.” It wasn’t phrased as a question and Eren didn’t have to ask for clarification to know what Levi was referring to. 

Curiosity had been burning in him ever since Levi let slip that one name earlier that day, Levi could see it practically eating Eren alive despite the boy heeding his request and waiting patiently.

Blond hair and bright blue eyes passed in Levi’s mind's eye as the darkness of the room threatened to smother him, a deep voice and strong hands assuring him that he was making the right decision, that he was their only hope. 

Oh, how wrong he had been. 

“We were out of first aid supplies,” Levi started, a soft hush to his deep voice that Eren immediately recognized as a deep seated pain, a wound that was still fresh. That cold foot was still pressed firmly against Eren's warm leg, a grounding reassurance that they both knew he needed. “I was the only one able to make it. Hange’s eye was busted, and Erwin had been bit. I was the only one able to get what we needed to amputate his arm.” 

The soft sound of Levi licking his lips before continuing seemed to echo in the room, “I was only gone a few minutes, ten at the most.” 

The only thing keeping Levi from clamming up and aborting the story were those vibrant eyes he could feel boring into his back with gentle reassurance, something he hadn’t known he needed so badly. Levi sucked in a deep breath before continuing. “I found Hange first. She was... brutalized. Gone. Those things... they’d gotten in from where I had left through the back, ambushing them when they were injured.” He paused again to gather himself before forcing the bile that threatened to come up his throat down, the burning bringing a stinging sensation to his eyes. “I found Erwin hiding in the other room. He... he was almost turned. The Roamers sensed he was already bit and left him alone to turn. I listened to him when he told me to cut off his arm, that he’d rather die fighting.” 

This story was more than Eren had signed up for. The burning curiosity he felt earlier quickly turned to cold dread that made his stomach queasy the longer Levi recounted what had happened to the people he had been traveling with. “Levi, you don’t have to-” 

“I killed him.” 

A hush fell over the two men, the calls of insects the only sound surrounding them. Those three words weighed heavily on Levi now that they were out in the open. 

Agony practically poured off Levi in waves, his strong shoulders seeming more hunched in and frail than they had been earlier as he curled up tighter under the pile of blankets, seeking warmth from a body that had long since gone cold. 

And Eren had been the one to drag the story out of him. Didn’t relent when it was clear Levi truly didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to have to relive what Eren was sure he saw every time he closed his eyes. It wasn’t so much concern as it was instinct that had him breaching that divide between them and wrapping Levi in his arms, that strong back pressed flush to his front. Hot skin firm with muscle warmed Eren even through the barrier of his shirt. Realistically, an embrace was all he could offer the other man with how the world was around them. Levi was a man of action, not words, so Eren bit his lip and hoped beyond hope that he wouldn’t get decked for this. “I’m sorry,” Eren whispered into Levi’s nape, burying his face there to hide the tears he could feel threatening to escape. The short hairs of Levi’s undercut ticked his nose. “I can’t imagine how-” he choked back the urge to burst into tears right then and there. Levi hadn’t shed a single tear while telling his story; he didn’t deserve to cry when Levi couldn't. “I can’t imagine how much that hurts. But Levi, I want you to know you’re not alone. I’m not going anywhere.” Eren tightened his arms around that deceptively strong torso, the warmth of Levi’s skin as addicting as it was nerve wracking. “You’re stuck with me.” 

Levi’s tense body relaxed minutely in the arms wrapped around him, and for a frightening second, Eren thought the man was going to turn around and knock his teeth out. He’d seen Levi take down Roamers like it was second nature; he wasn’t gentle, and those arms packed a surprisingly strong punch. Ocean eyes clenched shut as the brunette braced for the impact he was sure was coming, but despite his efforts to be prepared, Eren nearly shit himself when he felt Levi push back slightly into his chest to get closer. 

Acceptance was the last thing Eren expected from the other man, but here Levi was, offering it up so easily. 

Eren was far from complaining, though. The warmth of another human being was something the body craved, whether a person consciously longed for it or not. Humans were social creatures at their core, and despite everything about Levi suggesting the opposite, it seemed he was no different than Eren. His body gave into the comfort before his mind did, but that was okay. 

Eren was content with this. Even if this was the only way he could support Levi in this world of theirs that was turned upside down without warning, he could be happy with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being so late with this; work has been rough, pulling 55 hour weeks.
> 
> I hope you like the chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeing Eren’s broad frame curled up on the overly large mattress did things to Levi’s heart. 
> 
> Maybe it was because he couldn’t remember the last time he saw another living person who didn’t want to kill him or the fact that he had only slept an hour the night prior, he didn’t know. What he did know was Eren looked much more subdued like this, thick brows relaxing under the blanket of sleep and his lips parted only enough to let slow, deep breaths pass under the darkness of night. Shirt covered arms kept Levi warm and secure against a firm chest, perhaps a bit more boney than was healthy, but still strong. 
> 
> He was beautiful.

Seeing Eren’s broad frame curled up on the overly large mattress did things to Levi’s heart. 

Maybe it was because he couldn’t remember the last time he saw another living person who didn’t want to kill him or the fact that he had only slept an hour the night prior, he didn’t know. What he did know was Eren looked much more subdued like this, thick brows relaxing under the blanket of sleep and his lips parted only enough to let slow, deep breaths pass under the darkness of night. Shirt covered arms kept Levi warm and secure against a firm chest, perhaps a bit more boney than was healthy, but still strong. 

He was beautiful. 

Levi thumped the back of his head against the pillow he was resting on and sighed, staring at the freshly shaved throat of the man holding him so tightly. If he’d known his mind was going to betray him then he would have thought twice before deciding against falling back asleep once he was awake. 

Nothing in this world was more of a hindrance than a loved one. Suddenly it’s not only his life he had to worry about, but the health and well being of another person. 

It was just too much work. 

Yet, as he blew out a sigh and regarded the boy sleeping without a care in the world, Levi couldn't bring himself to leave. Hell, he couldn’t leave this idiot alone even if he wanted to. 

Slowly, the thoughts clouded by sleep and warmth began to sharpen, began to throw him back into the reality they were in. At first, Levi couldn’t tell what woke him up. Strong, warm arms were tight around the small of his back and the pulse of the neck he had his face buried into was steady. Each breath Eren exhaled ruffled inky black strands, the taller man having tucked his chin comfortably onto the crown of Levi’s head. Nothing about the situation was cause for concern except for how he managed to get so tangled up in Eren. His body needed rest and drank in the warmth pouring from Eren in waves, exhaustion tugging at his conscious and limbs loose and uncooperative. 

Then the sound of an engine tore through the night. 

Like a bolt of lightning tore through his veins, Levi was detangling himself from Eren and rushing to the window before the consciously realized what he was doing. Streams of light cut through the gaps in the wood and illuminated parts of the room in flickering, dancing patterns. Gray eyes widened in horror when a heavily armored truck came rumbling through the neighborhood and stopped a house away from the one they were staying in, large tires kicking up gravel and dirt in its stead. Panic hammered against Levi’s rib cage until he felt physically nauseous as six men poured out of the truck with guns strapped to their backs, silencers adorning the deadly weapons. Helmets with flashlights pierced the night as the men surveyed their surroundings before making their way toward the house he and Eren were in. 

Fuck. 

“Eren,” Levi hissed as he slowly backed away from the window before he was seen. “Eren, get up, we have to go.” 

A low groan was all that met Levi’s ears through the pounding of blood in his ears as he quickly dressed himself and threw Eren’s backpack at the boy who was just pushing himself up on tired arms, confusion evident on his face as he tubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “Levi, what-” 

“No time, don’t make a sound and follow me.” Thankfully a sense of preservation seemed to click in Eren as he scrambled to get his pants on. The previous sleepy flush to his face had been replaced with a tight, pale expression as he realized just how fucked they truly were. 

“How many?” Eren whispered as he grabbed and shouldered the backpack Levi had threw onto the bed. The slivers of light dancing against the walls cut off as whoever was driving cut the engine. 

“Six. They have guns.” 

“_Shit._” 

The men were too close for Levi to smuggle himself and Eren out of the back of the house without being seen. Not only that, but the Screamers were roaming around, hunting in the night for people dumb enough to travel in the dark. Levi supposed that was what the silencers on the guns were for, though he didn’t have the chance to spare another thought to the matter before the sound of gruff voices coming from the first floor shattered the relative silence. The sound of wood cracking had Levi guessing a few of the men were kicking in the door he had locked earlier that day. 

One of the men spoke outside, his voice muffled by the heavy wood of the door. “Yo, this says there's deads in here,” The rough voice sounded out, voice carefully pitched to not carry far enough for Screamers to hear. 

Another voice groaned. “This paint is still fresh, you dumbass. Whoever painted it did it recently. Did fucking that bitch as the gas station earlier destroy your brain or were you just born an idiot?” 

An annoyed grunt sounded from the first man. “Her screams were annoying. The kid was worse though.” 

A chorus of dark chuckling sent the hair on Levi’s arms to stand on end as a shiver coursed through his veins. 

Three. There were three men breaking in. 

If those three men made it into the house and up the stairs, he and Eren would have nowhere to go. The other three were probably circling the house and neighboring homes, and with flashlights, they would be easily seen if they tried to flee. 

They were truly fucked. 

Wordlessly Levi gave Eren a rough push toward the doorway, not waiting for the boy to follow before flattening his back to the wall and inching toward the only bathroom on the second floor. The men were going to be scouting the house for people or the dead, and Levi had a feeling they would check the bedrooms first given the time. 

“Levi,” Eren questioned quietly. 

“Get in the shower and behind the curtain.” Levi stood in the doorway to the bathroom and quickly pulled Eren over the threshold into the room before slowly closing the door behind them with a soft click. 

Holding up in there was a longshot. No matter where they went in the house, they were outnumbered and had less weapons. It didn’t matter how he looked at it; their situation was shit. One wrong move and it could cost both himself and Eren their lives. 

The sound of heavy footsteps thumping up the stairs had Levi all but shoving Eren into the bathtub and behind the shower curtain, pulling it closed behind them just as the footsteps reached the top of the stairs. 

It was only one man judging by the pattern of steps. Levi supposed it was better than the whole lot of them storming the upstairs, but with every shaky breath Eren hissed out beside him as he crouched behind the curtain with Levi half standing in front of him, he was reminded that it wasn’t just his life on the line anymore. 

“Don’t make a sound.” Levi whispered as he bent down to Eren’s eye level, the porcelain of the tub rim cold and clammy against his back as the door flew open. 

“All clear!” The raspy voice of whoever just came into the bathroom echoed out through the house. “Thank fuck, I need to take a piss.” 

It was the man who had raped a woman at a gas station by his friends own admission earlier. 

Like a predator waiting for the right moment to pounce, Levi crouched with his hand hovering inches from the curtain and his knife in the other, each breath measured and controlled as the sound of shuffling clothing and a zipper being undone echoed in the tiny bathroom. The moment a relieved sigh accompanied by the sound of liquid hitting the rim of the toilet met Levi’s ears, he forced himself into motion. 

The thug didn’t even have time to tuck himself back into his pants as Levi threw open the shower curtain and lunged at the man, the ash blonde stranger so taken by surprise that he didn’t make a sound as Levi clapped a hand over his mouth and ran the edge of his knife through the vulnerable flesh of his neck. Dying gurgles and thick blood hit Levi’s hand and face as he carefully lowered the feebly twitching man to the ground, watching the thug struggle to pull air into his lungs. Levi wrinkled his nose at the spray of arterial blood coating his face, an unfortunate but unavoidable mess that came with slitting throats. Cold gray eyes stared the dying man in the eye until the last warble of life was snuffed out of him, the blood and inability to pull air into his lungs ultimately asphyxiating him. 

Nothing was more dangerous than a wounded animal, and that applied to humans as well. Pain tended to prevent rational thought, and Levi couldn't exactly let this man pretend to be dead and then end up alerting his buddies of their existence. No, he had to watch the light go out behind their eyes, had to confirm they truly weren't a threat anymore. It was the part about killing he hated the most; watching the life get snuffed out of whatever victim he had to get rid of tore at him, bugged him more than the blood and gore ever could.

A soft exhale of shock had Levi whipped his attention back to Eren who stared at him from the gap in the curtain with such a look of shock that Levi momentarily felt bad the kid had to witness that despite the gore they saw every day. He must have made quite the sight with the blood of a living person spattered across his face like a madman, but it had to be done. “Come on,” Levi whispered quietly as he crouched over the slumped body against the toilet and made quick work of releasing the rifle from the strap keeping it affixed to the corpse’s body, completely uncaring about the blood staining his hands and sticking to his skin. 

“Go through the window over there and get onto the roof. Lay down flat so they don’t see you.” Levi quickly checked the barrel of the gun the man had on him to ensure it was loaded. “I’ll take care of the ones inside. No matter what you hear, no matter what you see, don’t move until I tell you to.” 

The second it looked like Eren was about to voice his complaints about the orders, Levi shoved him toward the only window in the bathroom, thankfully not barred or locked from previous inhabitants. This would have to go a lot differently if it had been barricaded. “We don’t have time for you to laze around with your thumbs up your ass,” Levi hastily wiped off the blood and gore off his knife onto the corpse and tossed it to Eren. “Use this only if you absolutely have to. Now _go_.” 

A million different outcomes warred in Levi’s head until he felt physically nauseous as Eren stared back at him with the most wounded expression he had seen on the man's face in all their time traveling. That look told Levi that the kid knew what he was doing, knew the risks he was taking to keep him safe. The unspoken terror and fury in Eren’s eyes threatened to buckle Levi’s knees and make him climb up onto the roof with him as well, but that wouldn’t work. The men outside were looking for a survivor, someone they knew was in the house somewhere; they would keep looking until they found someone still breathing. 

And that person would be Levi. 

With that thought clutched close to his chest and his blood pounding in his ears, Levi shot Eren one last stern look and slipped out of the bathroom, the bloody footprints his boots left behind him like a grotesque shadow. 

“Ya think Hugo is gonna try to sneak more cigs from Jonny?” One of the two men lounging around in the kitchen spoke up, reclined in the kitchen chair directly in front of the stairs. The other man had his back to Levi as he rifled through the long since broken fridge, no doubt looking for any kind of scraps that weren’t covered in mold or bugs. 

A thick laugh sounded from the man who was sitting with his feet propped up on the table. “The fucker prolly has a whole carton of them and doesn’t want to share.” 

“Fucking selfish pig.” 

The banter between the two living men in the kitchen went in one ear and out the other as Levi carefully cocked the rifle he stole and crept down the stairs just enough to have the barrel resting parallel with the man who was going through the fridge, the steel poking through the wooden spokes of the railing. There were only roughly three bullets in the weapon itself, but Levi knew he only had one shot at this. 

There was no room for mistakes. 

And with that final thought, he pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet tore through the back of the man’s head, an explosion of gore and blood splattering against the counter from the proximity of the gun as the wounded man fell to the ground like a sack of bricks. 

With his comrade undoubtedly no longer among the living, the remaining man threw himself up out of his chair and was about to turn around right as Levi clocked him in the side of the temple with the butt of the gun, the previously seated man much larger than he appeared when he had been sitting down. 

“What the _fuck?!_” The man shouted as Levi made a move to point the rifle at him only for the brute to grab the barrel and try to yank it from his grasp. The force alone pulled Levi forward enough to have to dodge a sloppy swing from his opponent as the larger man seethed in rage at his friends being slaughtered like sheep. The rifle Levi had used was knocked across the room, rendered completely useless until one of them got their hands on it. For as imposing as this man’s size was, Levi was more concerned about the remaining three men outside hearing the commotion and coming in. 

He had no idea where they were, whether they were in the truck outside or in one of the other houses, but he didn’t have time to ponder the possibilities as the thug managed to grab a hold of him and shove him hard enough to cause Levi to trip over one of the upturned chairs, his head smacking the corner of the table with a sickening crack. The world went dark for a split second before a thundering pain ripped down his spine, his vision blurry and ears ringing with the force of the blow. 

Never had he thought it would end up like this; being shoved to the ground by a man four times his weight and twice his size was nothing. Levi took down men like this countless times, so why was he so easily thrown to the ground? 

A memory of Eren’s peaceful sleeping face passed through his mind’s eye just as the thug grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up into the air, those meaty fists trembling with the force of his anger. 

“What the fuck were you _thinking?!_” The man bellowed in Levi’s face, the stench of unbrushed teeth and god knows what else assaulting Levi’s nose as pain weighed on his eyelids and sapped the strength from his arms. “You killed them, you fucker! Do you have any idea what I’m gonna do to you?” When Levi didn’t answer, the hulking man struck him across the face. Levi’s head just lolled along with the punch, barely clinging to consciousness as agony rippled through his body in waves stemming from his temple. “Huh?! Do you have _any_ idea?! I’m gonna feed you to those things outside, watch them pull you apart!” 

Levi could say nothing as the man tossed him to the side and took the few short strides to the gun that had been knocked away earlier, snatching it off the ground and turning back to face the motionless man on the ground just as the sound of squeaking hinges tore through the room like a gunshot. 

There Eren stood a few feet from the doorway like some kind of nightmare, the high beams from the armored car behind him casting his body in an eerie halo as the hulking thug whipped around and aimed his gun at Eren instead of Levi, fear making sweat trickle down the heavy man’s temples and the back of his neck when Eren didn’t move despite being aimed at. 

“What the fuck?” The bald thug snarled as the sound of a gun being cocked filled the room. 

Levi could only watch on helplessly in terror as those magnetic ocean eyes met him and held his gaze, the weight of them so jarring and ethereal in that moment that Levi found himself short of breath. Eren didn’t seem to realize the effect he had on the two occupants of the house as he opened his mouth. “Levi,” His voice was gravelly but unwavering, a testament to how much he believed in whatever he was about to do. “Don’t move.” 

And then Eren let out a scream so loud and piercing that Levi’s entire body erupted in goosebumps, shock and terror rendering him immobile as Eren threw his head back with the sheer weight of the scream ripping its way through his throat. 

A beat of silence passed as Eren’s scream cut off, the silence in the wake of the shattering noise so wrong that no one could move a finger for fear of shattering the atmosphere Eren had created. Every hair on Levi’s body stood on end as he waited for the shoe to drop, waited for them to all be killed by those things in the woods. 

At first, Levi didn’t hear a single thing other than his own heart pounding like a caged bird against his sternum. Then the hushed sound of pained screams from a few houses over sounded through the night, the implication of those shouts chilling Levi to the core. 

The thug seemed to think about the same as he stared in complete terror at Eren as the sound of snarling and spitting rose in volume until the hissing was right at the door like a cacophony of death. Screamers broke through the night and sprinted past Eren like a river around a boulder, pouring into the house and throwing themselves at the lone thug with shrieks and snarls, tearing the helpless man apart before he could get past his own horror and pull the trigger. Their silhouettes cast against the walls from the headlights of the truck outside were like a morbid puppet show, each one of them moving in ways a normal human being could never hope to achieve. 

Before Levi could tear his eyes away from the man being torn apart mere feet away from him, a blurry figure barreled past Eren from the doorway and launched itself at him, the sheer momentum and force behind it pinning him to the ground as the figure hunching over him began clicking and snarling as it dug long, fake nails into his arms to hold him down. Instinct had him bucking against the hold and struggling to flip their positions despite the blotches in his vision, but _fuck_, this thing was strong. 

It wasn’t until he felt something damp and warm against the nape of his neck did he tear himself out of his thoughts and realize that he was truly fucked. Levi could smell the putrid stench of death billowing out from the creature’s mouth as it surged closer, intent on taking a chunk out of him as the dying screams of the man swarmed by hungry abominations were silenced. Those stained teeth were quickly nearing his skin, but its hands lessened their grip on him as the Screamer craned forward to reach his neck. In a split second that felt like minutes, Levi hooked his legs around a disturbingly squishy waist and threw all his strength into throwing the monster off him, using a hand against the side of its face to keep momentum. 

The creature hit the floor beside him with a disgusting thud, but it wasn’t about to stay down. If there was one thing he learned about these disgusting freaks, it was their unwavering tenacity in getting what they wanted no matter the cost, and now was no exception. Darkness lingered in the edge of his vision as the corpse of a middle aged woman pushed herself back up and wailed a shriek at him before making one last desperate lunge at him. 

Or at least she tried to before a hand shot out and grabbed her by the hair, forcing her head to snap back in a sickening angle before she was thrown away from Levi by a seething Eren, his heavy breathing drowning out the sound of her body hitting the ground. Those broad shoulders of his trembled in time with the fists clenched by his sides, pure anger practically rolling off him in waves. 

It would have been disturbing had Levi not felt like he was seconds away from passing out. 

The Screamer quickly got back on her feet and bellowed a shriek at Eren, her posture hunched as though she were preparing to launch herself through the other boy to get to Levi. Oddly, Eren’s presence seemed to make her hesitate, almost as though she were afraid to try to get past him. She paced around a few feet before finally finding no way around the brunette and deciding to just lunge for Levi. 

It was the wrong decision on her part. Whatever had taken over Eren wasn’t keen on letting him go, the rage displayed so openly on his face reaching a crescendo as he allowed her to get close enough for him to lodge Levi's knife into her neck, the sound of snapping bone and the squelching of flesh being eaten a morbid soundtrack as the Screamer hit the floor, the knife pulled out of her body like a knife through butter. 

Nothing made sense. The Screamers picking through the last of the thug they pulled apart didn’t pay Eren or him any attention, but Levi couldn’t focus on the situation as darkness tugged at his conscious. In the back of his mind, he could feel a stickiness matting the hair near his left temple, but that was all he could discern before darkness finally swallowed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to the coordinate for the idea for this lmfao. 
> 
> Sorry for the wait and for the short length of this chapter; work has been insane.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sensation comes to Levi in short bursts, like angry waves breaching the shore in a storm. The first feeling to digest was pain’ sharp, stinging agony that stemmed from his head and traveled down his spine as he lay on something hard. The urge to vomit from that sensation alone was there as well. Sight didn’t come to him until the blinding pain in his head let up enough for him to focus, but when it did, Levi quickly wished it hadn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. These past few weeks have been really hard for me so finding the time to sit down and edit this has been tough, but here it is! I personally feel it's a bit rushed but after this we're gonna get to the good parts

Sensation comes to Levi in short bursts, like angry waves breaching the shore in a storm. The first feeling to digest was pain; sharp, stinging agony that stemmed from his head and traveled down his spine as he lay on something hard. The urge to vomit from that sensation alone was there as well. Sight didn’t come to him until the blinding pain in his head let up enough for him to focus, but when it did, Levi quickly wished it hadn’t. 

Eren sat beside him covered in blood like a macabre imitation of a mother keeping vigil over her sick child, the gore splattered across his face and seeping into his clothes contrasting those bright, worried eyes. Behind the blood covered man were weathered wooden walls, cobbled together with ripped posters of old shows lining them. It looked like it was a kid’s hideout at some point in time. 

“Levi!” 

God, why was this kid so loud? Even when he muttered to himself in his native tongue, he was always louder than he probably thought. 

“Don’t move too much. I did what I could to bandage you up with what we have but you hit your head pretty hard.” Those intense emerald eyes, like the ocean on a sunny day, held so much anxiety and concern that Levi didn't immediately recall the past few memories he had before passing out. The few moments of ignorant bliss lasted for only what felt like seconds before everything came back with the force of a freight train, stealing the air from his lungs. A loud gasp tore from his throat as he remembered; recalled Eren calling those _things_ like some kind of siren, those monsters that moved past him like they didn't consider him prey. 

Didn't consider him human. 

His gasp appeared to scare the shit out of Eren, who hovered shaking and grimy hands above Levi as though he didn’t know where to put them to make him better. “What? What’s wrong?!” 

Levi wouldn’t admit to the pained whimper that passed his clenched teeth at the volume. “T-the men, what happened to the ones outside?” 

The ones Levi had killed himself didn’t concern him since the only one left inside the house had been torn to shreds right in front of his own eyes, but there had been three more lurking outside. His question didn’t appear to bother Eren though, his voice sure and steady when he answered. “They’re gone. Didn’t stand a chance.” 

Levi didn’t have the energy to demand elaboration; he could tell from the hard tone Eren took on that he probably wouldn’t want to talk about it anyway. Besides, if they weren’t alive, they were either brutalized beyond recognition or turned into one of the millions of slow-moving Roamers. “Did you take their guns? Any of their weapons?” 

At this, Eren resembled a deer caught in headlights before guilt clouded his face. “I- no, I was more worried about getting you somewhere safe.” 

Well, fuck. They definitely could have used those guns. “Where are we?” 

The change in topic seemed to throw Eren for a moment before he sighed and idly picked at his pant leg, looking more like a reprimanded puppy covered in blood than a being who summoned Screamers and lived through it. “I found a tree house a few miles from where we were.” Eren cast his gaze to the only window in the whole little place, the glass mucked up and cracked from old age. “Figured it was safer than anywhere else at the moment.” 

That made sense, Levi supposed, but he had a hell of a lot more questions that demanded answers. “What _was_ that back there? Did you know you could do that the whole time? Why didn’t they-” Levi sucked in a shaky breath to try and calm himself, the dying screams of the thug torn to shreds echoing in his head. It was all too much; the pounding in his skull and the fact that Eren had resembled a Screamer more than a human being in that moment. 

Despite the flurry of questions thrown at him from a more than likely concussed man, Eren clasped his hands together in his lap as though keeping them still would put Levi at ease and shook his head vehemently. “N-no, I didn’t know I could do that!” The conviction in his tone told Levi the kid was telling the truth, as hard to believe as it was. 

“So you're telling me,” Levi began quietly, squeezing his eyes shut to try and keep his head from exploding, “that you disobeyed me and did that on a _hunch?_” 

At this, Eren bites his lip. Levi can practically see the thoughts running through his head like a hamster on a wheel. The kid was an open book, every thought displayed so clearly through his whole being that it was almost painful. That fact alone was likely why Levi hadn’t run for the hills within the first few hours of meeting the man. “I had a hunch.” Eren confessed. “When I split up with Mikasa and Armin, I told you the Screamers ran after me.” 

Levi just stared at him through squinted eyes until he continued. 

“Well, they... I mean, they caught me. No one can outrun those things. I thought I was gonna die, that I'd turn in an alley and that would be it, but... once they got me, they sort of... lost interest, I guess? They sniffed me a lot and made all those weird clicking noises before they just left me alone.” 

None of his questions were being answered, it seemed. Every time Levi thought he had some sort of idea, Eren opened his mouth and any hypothesis he had was blown out of the water. “And you didn’t deem that important enough to mention?” Levi lifted a heavy hand and placed it over his eyes to block out the last rays of sunlight before the sun disappeared behind the trees. God, his head hurt. He supposed it was a small miracle only a sliver of light managed to squeeze past the slim gaps between weathered wooden panels. 

The heavy silence weighed down the air between them until Eren mistook Levi’s silence for contempt. “I needed to make sure I could trust you. I mean, _of course_ I trust you!” Eren tripped over his own words in an effort to clarify what he was trying to say. “I trust you, it’s just... I was afraid,” Eren admitted quietly, almost like he was terrified Levi would get up and leave if he spoke too loudly. “I couldn’t bring it up. I tried, believe me. It's kind of hard to find a time to bring up something I don’t even understand myself.” 

Levi pulled in a long breath and let it out in one great exhale, taking all the stress and hurt and sheer confusion and trying to dispel it from his body. 

Accusing the only other non-hostile human being he’s come across in his time battling the end of the world would only make things worse. Besides, it wasn’t like he was truly upset with Eren, in all honesty. Yes, the idiot didn’t listen to what he had told him to do and put himself in danger, but he also saved their asses with that little stunt he pulled. 

They had both saved each other lives, kept each other company and assured one another kept sane through this whole mess. He owed it to Eren to take him at his word, to believe the panic and sorrow in his voice and take it as genuine. 

“Levi, I swear I didn’t know. I would have told you.” There were many things Levi could have said to that, but he didn't have to. Eren undoubtedly understood as his expression morphed into one of such serious regret ang desperation that Levi had to wonder how the kid hadn’t sweat all that blood off his face. 

There was only so much he could say, anyway. Only so many question he needed answers for, but it seemed he had reached his limit for talking without his head exploding. “We need to keep moving first thing in the morning.” Levi grunted as a stinging wave of pain washed through him. “Can’t stay here too long or we’ll run out of whatever few supplies we have left.” Pain weakened arms struggled to push himself upright onto his elbows. 

Eren didn't seem to share the same feelings and instead reached out to push Levi back onto the floor. 

Despite everything in himself telling his body not to, Levi couldn’t fight the way his body flinched away from Eren’s touch when the man reached out to him. He immediately knew it was a mistake; the way those expressive ocean eyes widened in hurt told him the damage had already been done. 

“...Your hands are filthy.” Levi said lamely when the look Eren was giving him was too much to bear. “If you’re gonna touch me, clean them first. Old blood stinks like shit.” 

The tension in Eren’s shoulders didn’t ease up, though the hurt expression in his eyes cleared somewhat with Levi's clarification. “You want me to use the last of our water to wash ‘em?” 

“No, just... wipe your hands on something at least.” 

Eren, the punk that he is, decided to lean over and smear his bloodied hands on the floor beside him and wipe his face on a moth eaten blanket shoved into the corner of- the little tree house. 

Levi would have admonished him had a distant shriek not dropped a bomb on the silence between them. It seemed the Screamers were heeding the call of night, scouring the earth for whatever prey were left. Eren seemed to think along the same lines as he made quick work of cleaning himself off the best he could and came over to lay beside Levi on the weathered wooden floor, careful not to touch him as he made himself comfortable. 

“The Screamers won’t be able to climb up here?” Levi whispered past the pounding in his head. A soft noise he guessed was Eren shaking his head against the dirty floor sounded beside him. 

“No. The ladder is a rope one so I just pulled it up into the treehouse with us.” 

Levi pondered that as the sound of footsteps springing around underneath them met his ears. Even with the assurance that Eren pulled the ladder up and that the Screamers most likely couldn’t climb trees, Levi was still uncomfortable. 

Being complacent in a world where the impossible was reality was a death sentence, infinitely more so when it came to the beings ravaging the earth below their feet. 

The Screamers were the apex predator in this world. There was nothing faster, nothing stronger than those abominations that devoured nothing but human flesh. They were the hunters, and in the moment Eren called forth the masses of screaming creatures, Levi had never been reminded so harshly of the fact that they were an unstoppable force. The memory of seeing Eren standing in the middle of a hoard of them brought forth a cascade of goosebumps to ripple across Levi’s skin. His shiver did not go unnoticed; before he could register what was happening, Eren turned to face him and placed a loose arm over Levi’s side, right above his hip. 

It was a chaste gesture, a gesture that held an offer for more warmth during the cold nights, something they needed for survival, but it also represented something more. It was in the way the clothed arm around him trembled with every howl outside, every snap of a branch and rustle of trees. The subconscious movements spoke of anxiety, of rejection and terror, and Levi was _not_ about to let Eren think for even a second that he was afraid. 

Fear only led to bad mistakes, mistakes that could spell the end for both of them. 

So, with that in mind, Levi huffed a few groans as he turned onto his left side with his back to Eren before shuffling backwards until his spine was flush with a warm, solid chest. The hitch of breath he could feel against his shoulder blades told him Eren hadn’t expected the shift, but welcomed it with a tightened grip around his middle. 

And Levi, with the beginnings of a massive migraine stirring just behind his eyes, accepted the embrace and welcomed unconsciousness. 

________________________ 

With morning came a whole slew of troubles. From the ache of his bones to possibly the worst headache he's had in his life, Levi couldn’t say he was feeling all that great. The only consolation he had was that Eren looked ten times worse than he felt, the purple bags under his eyes only accented by the smeared blood still caking parts of his face. 

“I think we’re really close.” Eren confided in Levi as he helped the black haired man down the rope ladder and onto the forest bed, unwilling to let the injured one out of the two of them go down first in case there were Roamers hiding around in the fog. 

Not that they were a fast opponent, but the lack of visibility in the fog added a creepy sense of foreboding that Eren didn’t want Levi having to go into first. 

“How do you know? Do you recognize these big ass trees or some shit?” Levi quipped back as he found his footing and touched a cool hand to his forehead to stave back his headache. 

Thank god it wasn’t sunny, just cold and dreary and definitely looking like it was about to rain soon. Levi would take the rain over bright sunshine right then any day, anything to keep his head from exploding. 

Eren pouted at him as he shouldered their only backpack and handed Levi back his knife, watching the shorter man tuck it back into the sheath he kept on him with exhaustion. “No, but that little village we stayed in looked really familiar. I think I went there with my mom before to visit one of her old friends.” 

There wasn’t much Levi could say to that. If Eren was right and they were getting closer, then that meant they only had a few more nights to go before they could stay somewhere more permanent, somewhere they could establish some sort of routine to follow. Somewhere that hopefully had clean clothes and water, though Levi wouldn’t be picky at this point. Anything would be better than going day to day without knowing if they would find shelter for the night or not. 

And, contrary to what Eren might believe, Levi didn’t exactly enjoy roughing it in the woods like they have been. Yes, it was a good way to keep them out of the path of hostiles and the dead, but it came with its own risks. Lack of provisions and weapons was one of them, though natural rivers and wild animals could serve as sustenance if they were truly desperate. 

So lost in his thoughts was he that Levi didn’t notice it was raining until Eren was tugging him through the woods and across a desolate road and back into the wilderness with a single minded determination that prompted Levi to remain silent and just follow the man until they came upon a small two story house set a good distance away from the road. “I _knew_ this area looked familiar!” Eren huffed triumphantly as he pulled Levi to the back of the little house just as the skies opened up and began to pour, the soothing sound of rain broken only by Eren kicking the door in without a single care as to who could be inside. 

“Eren, what the fuck-” 

“No one lives here; the old man who used to live here died a year ago.” Eren informed him as he ushered Levi into the home and quickly closed the door behind them. “I went to his funeral. Was friends with his son, actually.” Eren’s expression quickly turned into a grimace. “Some jackass that kid was.” 

Levi barely paid attention to what Eren was blabbing about, more interested in casing out the house that the green eyed boy claimed was definitely empty. If there was one thing he learned, one thing that he had made the mistake of ignoring before, it was that both humans and the dead had an uncanny way of hiding where he least expected. Until he scoured through every room in the house, every nook and cranny, Levi would not let his guard down. 

So, with his knife drawn and his eyes squinted against the headache he was sporting, Levi crept through the house as Eren raided the kitchen for the food they desperately needed. It was a relief the house was so tiny; Levi could easily get to the other man if he needed to, which was a big relief in the grand scheme of things but did nothing to calm him as he cleared each room on the ground floor one by one until just the living room and upstairs remained. 

It was possibly the biggest room in the house with minimal windows, which Levi was grateful for. People seeing them from outside would put them at a great disadvantage if they had to fight, so with the layout of the house kept in mind, Levi crossed the doorway into the living room and immediately stopped dead in his tracks. 

A cold sensation tapped against Levi’s temple as he held his breath and tried to place the feeling. It wasn’t a jarring sensation so at first, he assumed it was just a gust of wind from an open door or a leak in the roof. It wasn’t until he heard the soft creak of wood that he froze and looked up. 

There, suspended from the railing of the balcony upstairs, was a young woman who had hung herself. Her corpse swayed gently back and forth from where she was dangling with a noose made out of cables around her neck, which explained the icy cold sensation of something tapping his temple. 

It had been her cold, lifeless toes. 

“Eren,” Levi suddenly felt a little sick. Those cloudy eyes staring down at him through a halo of thick black hair were hard to look away from, especially when he couldn’t help but notice the corpse looked fresher than what he was comfortable with. “You said this house was abandoned, right?” 

He could hear the clattering in the kitchen stop for a moment as Eren popped his head into the living room, his view of the corpse probably hidden by Levi’s form as the other man didn't sound put off at all. “Yeah, they were actually gonna demolish this place.” 

Levi took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking. “There’s a woman in here.” 

All at once, Eren dropped whatever he had been doing in the kitchen and came sprinting into the living room, his long legs skidding to an abrupt stop when he made it around Levi and saw exactly what the black haired man was looking at. “Oh...” 

Levi remained silent as Eren looked only long enough to see the corpse’s face before turning away. “Do you know her?” 

Eren met his gaze and shook his head, those eyes that had seen too much looking so, so tired. 

“We need to get her down and lock her in a room.” 

At that, Eren looked appalled. How the kid had the audacity to still be shocked in a world like this was beyond him. “We should leave her and go somewhere else.” He insisted. 

Levi could feel himself becoming more and more frustrated with their situation. “Eren, it’s pouring outside. We can’t go anywhere else until it lets up.” He spared one last sad glance at the woman before making his way to the stairs to scout out the upstairs rooms and cut her down. 

“Levi-” 

“I’ve seen a lot of shit. Can’t say I've seen unbitten corpses turning, but at this point, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible.” Nothing was impossible in the world they lived in now, and that was what Levi told himself as he unsheathed his knife and cut the cables holding her above the ground, the solid slap of her body hitting the living room floor echoing in the silent house. 

In a sick, twisted way, Levi could understand why she had done it. Fending for yourself in a world where every single decision could mean life or death... it was hard. 

It was difficult to keep your sanity, your humanity. 

At least that was what he thought as he watched Eren drape a blanket that had been folded over the back of the couch over the body of the woman, his hesitance in the whole situation apparent. Not that Levi blamed him; he didn’t want to do this either, but it was something they had to do to make sure they weren’t caught by surprise by anything. 

Neither of them said a word as Eren held the door open to the little bathroom on the ground floor for Levi as he carried the blanketed corpse into the tiny room and set her in the empty tub, her lithe form small enough that she could be laid flat. Good thing too, because Levi didn’t want to have to fight rigor mortis and force her legs to bend to fit. 

It wasn’t the burial he wished to give her, but it was the closest they could do without putting themselves on the line. Something told him not many people got a proper burial anymore, their corpses instead bringing the world to its knees in their hunt for flesh. The bathtub wasn’t a grave by a longshot, but it beat being suspended by a cable in the living room, the last choice the woman made put on display for whoever was fortunate enough to find this house. 

It was all they could do for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Please add a comment to let me know how it turned out! I also would love feedback so I can edit the remaining chapters to make them better.


End file.
